FROM    THE    LIBRARY    OF 

REV.    LOUIS    FITZGERALD    BENSON.   D.  D. 

BEQUE^ATHED    BY    HIM    TO 

THE    LIBRARY   OF 

PRINCETON   THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARY 


»**■  sec 


THE    PURITAN  ! 


IN 


ENGLAND   AND   NEW   ENGLAND. 


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THE  PURITAN  ^^^%ai 


IN 


ENGLAND  AND   NEW  ENGLAND. 


EZRA    HOYT    BYINGTON,   D.D. 

MEMBER  OF  THE  AMERICAN   SOCIETY   OF   CHURCH   HISTORY. 


WLxtl}  an  ^fntrotittction 

BY 

ALEXx\NDER    McKENZIE,   D.D. 

MINISTER    OF    THE    FIRST    CHURCH    IN    CAMBRIDGE. 


BOSTON: 

ROBERTS    BROTHERS. 

1896. 


Copyright,  1896, 
By  Ezra  H.  Byington. 


Unibcrsttg  Press: 
John  Wilson  and  Son,  Cambridge,  U.S.A. 


Co  iHp  Setfe, 


WHOSE    INSIGHT    AND    LITERARY    TASTE 

HAVE    BEEN    MY   CONSTANT    RELIANCE   IN   THE   PREPARATION 

OF  THESE  CHAPTERS, 

AND    WHOSE    EFFICIENT    HELP 

HAS   LIGHTENED   THE   LABOR   OF   CARRYING  THEM   THROUGH 

THE   PRESS, 

THEY   ARE   NOW   DEDICATED. 


Preface. 


THIS  book  has  had  a  natural  growth.  It  had  its 
origin  in  a  paper,  which  I  read  before  one  of  our 
historical  societies,  on  VVlLLIAM  PynCHON,  a  Puritan, 
who  came  to  New  England  in  1630,  and  who  published 
a  book,  some  twenty  years  later,  which  was  much  talked 
about.  In  preparing  that  paper  I  found  it  necessary 
to  read  the  works  of  Mr.  Pynchon,  and  the  replies  to 
them.  The  discussions  relating  to  those  volumes  were 
found  to  be  connected  with  the  progress  of  opinion 
in  England,  and  with  the  history  of  the  Westminster 
Assembly.  It  was  only  by  tracing  the  history  to  its 
sources,  that  I  was  able  to  gain  an  adequate  knowl- 
edge of  the  opinions  and  the  influence  of  that  leading 
Puritan. 

As  other  historical  papers  have  been  called  for,  from 
time  to  time,  I  have  followed  the  same  topical  method, 
because  I  found  it  the  most  fruitful  method  in  the  study 
of  New  England  history.  One  topic  led  naturally  to 
another,  so  that  I  have  prepared  papers  on  The  Origin 
and  Development  of  Puritanism  in  England  ;  The  Two 
Earliest  Colonies  in  New  England;  The  Social  and 
Family  Life  of  the  Pilgrims  and  Puritans;  Their  Min- 


viii  PREFACE. 


isters  and  Modes  of  Worship ;  Their  Religious  Opin- 
ions ;  and  The  Working  of  the  Union  of  Church  and 
State,  in  their  Second  Century.  The  fathers  of  New 
England  have  left  a  large  number  of  journals,  and  nar- 
ratives, and  histories,  with  many  theological  treatises, 
and  discussions,  and  pamphlets.  The  literature  which 
has  come  down  from  the  English  Puritans  is  also  abun- 
dant. So  that  there  is  no  lack  of  fresh  materials  for 
the  historical  student.  No  other  pioneers,  of  whom  I 
have  any  knowledge,  have  left  materials  so  rich  and 
abundant,  for  those  who  would  study  their  history. 
One  needs  to  get  their  point  of  view,  if  he  would  do 
justice  to  them,  and  he  can  get  their  point  of  view 
only  through  their  writings. 

Two  of  these  papers  were  published,  some  time  ago, 
in  the  '' Andover  Review."  Others  have  been  read  be- 
fore a  number  of  historical  societies,  and  before  stu- 
dents, in  colleges  and  seminaries.  They  have  all  been 
rewritten,  and  reconstructed,  so  as  to  bring  them  into 
connection  with  each  other.  New  topics  have  been 
introduced,  with  the  purpose  of  covering,  so  far  as 
practicable,  within  our  limits  of  space,  the  whole  field 
of  the  history  of  our  forefathers. 

I  am  under  great  obligations  to  a  number  of  recent 
authors,  who  have  cast  new  light  upon  the  history  of 
the  Puritans.  John  Richard  Green,  in  his  "■  History  of 
the  English  People,"  has  shown  the  origin  and  the  mean- 
ing of  Puritanism,  better  than  any  of  the  earlier  English 
historians.  Douglass  Campbell,  in  his  two  volumes  on 
'•The  Puritan  in  Holland,  England,  and  America,"  has 


PREFACE.  Jx 


proved  that  the  influences  which  moulded  the  Puritan 
party  came,  not  only  from  England,  but  from  the  Dutch 
Republic,  and  from  the  other  Protestant  nations  on  the 
continent.  One  needs  to  correct  some  of  his  extreme 
statements  by  referring  to  Macaulay,  and  especially  to 
Motley;  but,  rightly  used,  his  work  is  of  great  value. 
Dr.  Henry  M.  Dexter,  in  his  monumental  work  on 
"  Congregationalism  as  seen  in  its  Literature,"  has  un- 
covered the  abundant  materials  for  the  history  of  our 
fathers,  and  has  shown  us  how  to  use  them.  And  — 
not  to  mention  other  recent  volumes  of  great  value  — 
Professor  Williston  Walker,  in  his  book  on  "  The  Creeds 
and  Platforms  of  Congregationalism,"  has  made  a  rich 
and  original  contribution  to  our  history. 

This  book,  in  its  present  form,  is  offered  to  the 
public,  in  the  hope  that  it  may  contribute  toward  a 
fuller  knowledge  and  appreciation  of  our  forefathers, 
who,  under  the  limitations  of  a  pioneer  life,  in  the  sev- 
enteenth century,  laid  the  foundations  of  this  free  and 
progressive  nation. 

Ezra  Hoyt  Byington. 


Franklin  Street,  Newton,  Mass, 
March  31,  1896. 


Contents. 


PAGE 

I.    List  of  Authorities  Referred  to xxv 

11.    Some  Important  Dates  in  Puritan  History    .      xxxi 
III.    Introduction,  by  Alexander  McKenzie,  D.D.      xxxv 

I. 

THE   PURITAN    IN   ENGLAND. 

Estimate  of  the  Puritans  by  Macaulay ;    Hallam ;    Hume ;  Carlyle.— 
Numbers  who  came  to  New  England. 

I.  Our  forefathers  to  be  understood  by  the  history  of 
the  struggle  in  England.  —  Beginnings  of  the  Ref- 
ormation with  Wyclif.  — Translation  of  the  Bible. 

—  Lollards 5 

II.     English  reformation  under  Henry  VIII.;   political, 

—  Growth  of  principles  of  the  Reformation  ...       9 
III.     Prayer  Book  of  Edward  VI.  — Queen  Mary's  per- 
secution       II 

IV.  Elizabeth:  a  Protestant  Queen;  her  Moderation; 
acts  of  Supremacy,  and  of  Uniformity.  —  Rise  of 
the  Puritan  Party;  grounds  of  dissent,  not  doc- 
trines but  forms  and  vestments  12 

V,  Mildness  of  the  Church  in  the  early  years  of  the 
Queen. —  Court  of  High  Commission.  —  The  re- 
ligio  purissima.  —  The  London  ministers  silenced; 
severe  penalties.  —  Patience  of  the  Puritans.  — 
Whitgift  becomes  Archbishop,  1583 16 

VI.     Success    of  the   Archbishop.  —  Censorship    of   the 

press. —The  Bible  read  by  the  People      ...     20 


XI 1  CONTENTS. 


PAGE 


VII.  The  Separatists.  —  Robert  Browne;  his  principles. 
—  Persecution  of  the  Brownists.  —  Martyrdom  of 

Barrowe ;  Greenwood;  Penry 21 

VIII.     The  Martin-Mar-prelate  tracts;   humor.  —  Influence 

of  the  tracts  ;  replies  to  them 28 

IX.     Growth  of  Puritanism;  causes  of  growth.  —  Weak- 
ness of  Protestantism  in  Europe ;  its  perils  at  that 

time 30 

X.     James   the    First.  —  Millenary  petition.  —  Hampton 
Court  Conference ;  rejection  by  the  King  and  the 

Prelates 35 

XI.     The  great  age  of  Puritanism;  political  elements  in 

the  contest 38 

XII.  Why  it  became  political.  —  Arbitrary  claims  of  the 
King  advocated  by  the  Prelates.  —  Character  of 
James.  —  New  Claims  for  Episcopacy.  —  Laud.  — 
Calvinism.  —  Love  of  Freedom 39 

XIII.  First    Parliament.  —  The    King  levies  customs  and 

taxes.  —  The  Puritans  have  a  majority  of  the  Com- 
mons ;  demand  redress  of  grievances  :  Pym ;  Eliot; 
Wentworth  ;  Coke;  Archbishop  Abbott    ....     45 

XIV.  The  Pilgrim  Fathers.  — The  Thirty  Years  War.— 

The  French  alliance 49 

XV.  The  Pilgrims  from  North  England,  Gainsborough, 
and  Scrooby.  —  The  old  Manor  House.  —  Persecu- 
tion of  the  people;  their  condition  and  spirit; 
escape  to  Holland;  Amsterdam;  Leyden;  their 
employments;  reasons  for  another  removal ;  voyage 

to  Plymouth 51 

XVI.  Charles  the  First.  —  Laud.  —  Tendencies  toward 
Rome.  —  Parliament.  —  No  grants  of  money  with- 
out redress  of  grievances.  —  Petition  of  Right.  ^- 
Puritans  stand  for  the  people.  —  Tyranny  of 
Charles.  —  Laud  becomes  Archbishop.  —  Obser- 
vance of  Sunday.  —  Milton's  Lycidas  ....  58 
XVII.  Causes  of  the  so-called  narrowness  of  the  Puritans  .  62> 
XVIII.     The  Puritan  migration;  despair  of  good  government 

at  home ;  early  settlements  in  New  England     .     .     69 


CONTENTS.  xiii 


XIX.  The  Political  struggle  in  England.  —  Ship-money.— 
Hampden's  great  trial.  — The  Scottish  War.  — The 
Short  Parliament.  —  Long  Parliament.  —  Went- 
worth  and  Laud  in  the  Tower.  —  Death  of  Pym 
and  Hampden ;  mistakes  of  their  successors ; 
failure  of  the  effort  to  abolish  the  Monarchy  and 
the  Established  Church ;  reasons  for  the  failure  .  72 
XX.  Final  estimate  of  the  Puritans;  their  limitations. — 
The  Age.  —  The  Puritans  compared  with  the 
Dutch;  their  merits;  defenders  of  liberty;  their 
culture  and  manners  :  Lord  Essex ;  John  Milton  ; 
Hutchinson ;  Winthrop.  —  The  Puritan  ministers. 
—  Puritan  homes.  —  Settlement  of  Massachusetts 
in  the  best  age  of  Puritanism 76 


II. 

THE   PILGRIM   AND   THE   PURITAN:   WHICH? 

The  Province  of  Massachusetts  of  1691  included  two  colonies,  — the  old 
Colony  of  Plymouth  and  that  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  —  Which  had  most 
to  do  in  moulding  the  people  of  New  England  ? 

I.     Earlier  historians  of  New  England  gave  the  precedence 

to  the  Puritans  ;  later  writers  to  the  Pilgrims  .     .     .     Ss 
II.     The  Old  Colony  founded   1620;   the  Puritan  Colony 

1628 86 

III.  The  Pilgrims  Separatists;  Puritans  Non-Conformists. 

—  Winthrop's  greeting  to  the  Church  of  England    .     Sj 

IV.  The  Pilgrims  from  humble  stations  in  hfe ;  their  occu- 

pations.—  The  Puritans  from  upper  middle  classes     89 
V.     The  Pilgrims  were  already  exiles,  and  came  to  find  a 
place  of  refuge.  —  The  Puritans  came  to  found  a 
New  England,  where  they  could  enjoy  liberty  in 

Church  and  State 91 

VI.  The  Pilgrims  first  on  the  ground;  had  already  framed 
their  institutions ;  the  democratic  state  ;  the  free 
Church.  —  The  Puritans  were  guided  by  their  ex- 
ample. —  Dr.  Samuel  Fuller 94 


XIV  CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

V'll.     The  Puritans  moulded   the  social  institutions  of  the 
Colonies.  —  Influence  of  Holland.  —  Aristocracy  in 
Massachusetts.  —  Union  of  Church  and  State     .     .     98 
VIII.     The  Puritans  richer  and  more  numerous;  and  more 

enterprising  ;  vigorous  growth  of  their  Colony     .     .   loi 

IX.     The  Puritans  the  intellectual  leaders;  their  Ministers 
compared   with  those   of  the   Pilgrims.  —  Harvard 
College.  —  The  literature  from  the  Puritans.     .     .   103 
X.     The  Puritans  the  leaders  in  New  England  Confed- 
eracy.—  The  Cambridge  Platform 107 

XI.  In  respect  to  Legislation,  both  Colonies  made  laws  too 
severe  ;  both  used  cruel  punishments  ;  both  punished 
Quakers  and  Witches.  —  The  Pilgrims  were  more 
merciful  and  just  in  the  execution  of  the  laws  .  .  109 
XII.  Conclusion.  —  The  Pilgrims  were  gentle;  tolerant; 
merciful.  —  The  Puritans  more  vigorous ;  enterpris- 
ing; powerful 112 


III. 

THE   EARLY   MINISTERS    OF   NEW   ENGLAND. 

The  Puritan  ministers  the  best  representatives  of  the  Puritans. 

I.     In  sympathy  with  the  Puritan  spirit;  had  been  moulded 

by  persecution;  their  courage  ;  their  opportunities  .  118 
II.  They  were  men  of  education  and  culture;  graduates 
from  the  great  universities;  had  been  ministers  in 
the  Church  of  England;  their  knowledge  of  the 
classics;  of  literature;  of  the  original  languages  of 
the  Bible  ;  their  large  libraries 120 

III.  Their  dignity  of  character  and  their  manners ;  wore  the 

gown  and  bands  in  the  pulpit ;  their  general  refine- 
ment; Mrs.  Stowe's  sketch  of  their  manners  :  Par- 
son Lothrop  ;  Dr.  Samuel  Hopkins 125 

IV.  Support  of  the  ministers  voluntary  in  Boston ;  a  tax 

by  authority  of  law  elsewhere ;  salary  and  "  settle- 
ment;" amount  of  the  salary;  how  collected;   the 


CONTENTS,  XV 


PAGE 

ministers  farmers ;  President  Edwards'  cows ;  min- 
isterial hospitality  in  the  olden  time 130 

V.  Dwellings  of  the  ministers;   furniture;  dress;  food; 

log-houses;  the  old  well-sweep;  thatched  roofs; 
house  of  Mr.  Whitfield  in  Guilford,  Conn. ;  pewter 
platters  ;  no  forks  ;  not  much  butcher's  meat ;  fish 
and  game;  rye  and  Indian  bread;  hasty  pudding; 
little  tea,  and  no  coffee  ;  beer  and  cider ;  wine  and 
spirits;  no  drunkenness 135 

VI.  The  early  meeting-house  the  central  building  in  the 

town:  the  pulpit;  sounding-board,  benches,  gallery; 
log  meeting-houses ;  frame  buildings  ;  pointed  roof 
with  belfry  in  the  centre ;  Hingham  meeting-house 
now  in  use ;  origin  of  the  Puritan  church  architec- 
ture;  origin  of  "pews;"  "dignifying"  the  seats; 
third  style  of  New  England  meeting-house ;  Old 
South  Church  in  Boston;  meeting-houses  never 
lighted  except  by  the  sun ;  objections  to  candles  as 
tending  to  Popery;  no  means  of  warming  in  winter  .  139 
VII.  Methods  of  public  worship  :  laws  required  attendance; 
smoking  within  two  miles  forbidden ;  Saturday  night ; 
morning  service  at  nine  o'clock  ;  summoned  by  beat- 
ing of  the  drum  ;  the  pulpit  with  the  two  minis- 
ters; seats  for  ruling  elders  and  deacons  ;  order  of 
services;  requests  for  prayer;  opening  prayer;  ex- 
position of  the  chapter ;  singing  by  the  congrega- 
tion ;  the  tunes  used  ;  hymn-books  ;  no  instrumental 
music ;  style  of  church  music.  —  Music  taught  in 
Harvard  College.  —  Decline  of  music  in  the  second 
and  third  generations.  —  The  influence  of  the  minis- 
ters in  the  revival  of  music.  —  Singing  by  "  note  or 
by  rote."  —  Style  of  preaching.  —  Length  of  ser- 
mons; the  hour-glass  ;  subjects.  —  Origin  of  written 
sermons.  —  The  administration  of  the  Sacraments. 
—  The  contributions.  —  Church  business,  and  dis- 
mission "before  the  setting  of  the  sun"  ....  147 
VIII.  Mid-week  lectures;  habits  of  the  people  in  attending 
them. —  Lectures  of  John  Cotton  and  John  Norton, 


XVI  CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

"Milk  for  Babes."  —  Religious  instruction  of  the 
young.  —  Visiting  the  sick.  —  Pastoral  work  .     .     .156 

IX.  The  churches  which  they  founded:  the  first  church  at 

Plymouth;  at  Salem;  at  Boston.  —  Officers;  ordina- 
tion; pastor  and  teacher;  ruling  elders  ;  deacons.  — 
A  minister  limited  to  his  parish 158 

X.  Mistakes  of  the  Puritan  ministers.  —  Readiness  to  cor- 

rect errors.  —  Changes  they  adopted  in  the  reading 
of  the  Scriptures;  in  their  religious  services;  changes 
in  respect  to  funerals ;  changes  in  the  celebration  of 
marriage ;  changes  from  the  use  of  numerals  for  the 
months  and  days  of  the  week.  —  Fast  Day  and 
Thanksgiving  for  Good-Friday  and  Christmas  .  .162 
XI.  Their  progressive  spirit.  —The  suffrage  limited  by  a 
religious  test. — Connecticut  Colony  without  such 
a  test.  —  The  test  removed  in  Massachusetts. — 
No  religious  test  at  Plymouth.  —  Case  of  Roger 
Williams :  his  arrival  in  the  Colony ;  preaching  in 
Salem;  in  Plymouth;  in  Salem  again;  denounces 
the  churches,  and  the  charter;  banished  by  the  Gen- 
eral Court ;  real  reasons  for  the  sentence ;  the  sen- 
tence revoked 168 

XII.  The  persecution  of  the  Quakers  a  great  blot  upon  the 
good  name  of  the  Puritans;  less  severe  than  in  Eng- 
land; the  good  sense  of  the  people  arrested  it  in  the 
course  of  a  few  years.  —  The  Quakers  punished  for 
disorder,  not  for  their  religion.  —  The  delusion  in 
respect  to  witchcraft  thirty  years  later,  the  worst 
thing  in  their  history,  but  soon  over.  —  Origin  of  the 
delusion  in  New  England ;  in  Old  England  ;  in  Ger- 
many.  —  Part  which  ministers  had  in  it ;  the  minis- 
ters the  first  to  discover  the  sin  and  folly  of  putting 
to  death  those  suspected  of  witchcraft 174 

XIII.  The  government  of  their  churches:   independent  at 

first;  the  need  of  fellowship  ;  Synod  at  Cambridge; 
Cambridge  Platform  ;  Plan  for  Ecclesiastical  Coun- 
cils; their  powers  ;  influence  of  the  Platform  .     .     .   177 

XIV.  The  right  of  private  judgment;  the  spirit  of  inquiry; 

independence  of  the  Puritans 181 


CONTENTS.  xvii 


IV. 

WILLIAM   PYNCHON,   GENT. 

The  leaders  among  the  Puritans :  Winthrop,  Dudley,  Endicott,  Sir 
Henry  Vane,  Governor  Bradford,  Brewster,  Winslow. 

PAGE 

I.  William  Pynchon  ;  less  known  than  the  others.  —  The 
Pynchon  family  came  to  England  with  William  the 
Conqueror;  a  wealthy  and  honorable  family  for  six 
hundred  years.  —  W.  Pynchon  came  to  Massachu- 
setts with  Governor  Winthrop  in  1630;  member  of  the 
Board  of  Assistants  of  the  Colony  for  twenty  years  ; 
a  man  of  business  ;   a  fur-trader  of  great  wealth ; 

founder  of  the  first  church  in  Roxbury 186 

II.     Settlement  of  Springfield:  reasons  for  it ;  the  pioneers 

go  in  1635 188 

III.  Pynchon  and  his  company.  —  Agawam.  —  Plan  of  the 

village.  —  A    minister    secured.  —  Settlements    in 
Connecticut 191 

IV.  A    new    government  :     Pynchon    the    magistrate.  — 

Records  of  his   court.  —  A   case  of  witchcraft.  — 
Municipal  regulations.  —  Dealings  with  the  Indians. 

—  The  Bay  Path 195 

V.  Mr.  Pynchon's  book :  its  subject ;  protest  of  the  Gen- 
eral Court;  the  book  burned;  its  author  summoned 
to  retract;  Mr.  Norton  appointed  to  reply  to  the 
book  ;  causes  of  the  commotion 200 

VI.  Analysis  of  the  argument;  remarkable  learning  which 
it  displays  ;  discussion  of  Hebrew  and  Greek  texts ; 
quotes  Augustine  to  prove  that  Christ  died  a  volun- 
tary death 204 

VII.     John  Norton  of   Ipswich;    his  learned   reply.  —  Mr. 

Pynchon's  answer  to  the  Court 208 

VIII.  Pynchon  is  placed  under  bonds ;  retires  from  Massa- 
chusetts and  settles  in  England;  defended  by  Sir 
Henry  Vane 210 

IX.  Mr.  Pynchon  in  England:  list  of  his  theological 
works;  incidents  of  his  closing  years;  death  in 
Wraysbury  near  Windsor  Castle ;  result  of  his  the- 
ological discussions  in  New  England 214 

b 


Xviii  CONTENTS. 


V. 

THE  FAMILY  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THE  PURITANS. 
Home  the  creation  of  the  Puritan ;  reasons  why. 

PAGE 

I.  Illustrations  of  Puritan  life :  Mrs.  Hutchinson's  life 
of  her  husband,  Col.  Hutchinson ;  his  delicate  phy- 
sical organization;  love  of  nature,  of  music,  and  fine 
art ;  his  conjugal  affection  ;  his  love  of  the  military 
art;  services  during  the  Civil  War;  imprisonment 
and  death.  — John  Milton  :  tract  on  Education ;  love 
of  beauty  ;  the  model  Puritan.  —  A  Puritan  Mother  222 
II.  Letters  of  Governor  Winthrop  and  his  wife ;  his  per- 
sonal history  ;  Margaret  Tyndal,  his  third  wife ;  letter 
from  his  father;  Winthrop's  letters;  replies  from 
Mrs.  Winthrop ;  voyage  of  Mrs.  Winthrop  to  New 
England  ;  reception  by  the  people  ;  spirit  of  all  these 
letters .  226 

III.  Numerous  Journals  of  the  Pilgrims;  and  Puritans       .  232 

IV.  Characteristics  of  their  life  ;  influences  from  the  seven- 

teenth century ;  belief  in  Witchcraft ;  cruel  punish- 
ments in  England 233 

V.  The  Colony  at  Plymouth  :  they  were  pioneers  ;  rough 
life  in  the  new  country;  struggles  for  a  bare  subsist- 
ence; danger  from  the  Indians 236 

VI.  The  Massachusetts  Colony;  sufferings  of  the  early 
years. — Rhode  Island.— Connecticut— New  Hamp- 
shire.—  The  first  wind-mill  in  Boston.  —  The  first 

water-mill.  —  Modes  of  travelling 239 

VII.  The  Courtship  of  Miles  Standish,  a  picture  of  life  at 
Plymouth  in  1624  ;  Priscilla  Mullins  ;  Standish  ;  John 
Alden  ;  the  marriage  ;  the  company  gathered  at  the 

marriage 242 

VIII.  Common  schools  for  the  people  at  Plymouth  ;  Massa- 
chusetts; Connecticut.  — Salaries  of  the  first  school- 
masters  247 

IX.  Legislation  as  affecting  social  life.  —  The  Blue  Laws, 
invention  of  Samuel  Peters ;  sumptuary  laws  ;  the 


CONTENTS.  xix 


.  PAGE 

laws  milder  than  those  in  New  York,  or  Virginia,  or 
England ;  number  of  capital  crimes  ;  laws  against 
Quakers  ;  soon  repealed ;  juries  refuse  to  convict 
of  witchcraft  after  1692.  —  Body  of  Liberties. — 
Tendency  of  Legislation  to  Democracy  .  .  .  .251 
X.     Meaning  of  the  prefix  Mr.,  Goodman,  Goodwife.  —  A 

thief  lost  the  title  of  Mr 256 

XL  Dress  in  the  Colonial  Period.  —  The  Simple  Cobbler 
of  Agawam  complains  of  extravagance.  —  Laws  to 
prohibit  extravagance.  —  Inventory  of  the  clothing 

of  Elder  Brewster 258 

XIL     Domestic  furniture.  —  Inventory   of   Governor   Win- 

throp's  furniture.  —  That  of  Martha  Coytmore    .     .   260 

XIII.  Amusements.  —  The  Puritans  enjoyed  their  religion. 

—  Loved  the  new  country.  —  A  hearty  social  life.  — 
The  first  Harvest  Festival  at  Plymouth  ;  not  religious. 

—  Training  days. — Judge  Sewall's  dinner  parties. 

—  "Mixt    dances    and   unlawful    gaming"    of    the 
young  people 262 

XIV.  Intercourse  with  the  French  Catholics.  —  La  Tour  and 

the  learned  Friar;  entertained  by  Governor  Win- 
throp.  —  The  Sunday  dinner  at  the  Governor's. — 
The  Jesuit  Missionary,  Druillette.  —  His  visit  to 
the  Apostle  Eliot;  they  discourse  concerning  their 
work  for  the  Indians.  —  Governor  Bradford  pro- 
vides a  "fish  dinner"  on  Friday  for  the  Jesuit  .  265 
XV.  Results  of  Puritan  training  upon  the  eighth  genera- 
tion. —  English  families  decay  after  a  few  genera- 
tions.—  The  Puritan  type  persistent.  —  Ancestors 
of  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson ;  of  President  Adams  ; 
Hawthorne;  Longfellow;  James  Russell  Lowell. — 
Members  of  the  New  England  Historic  Genealogical 
Society  who  have  died  within  three  years,  a  majority 
of  Puritan  descent,  such  as  Phillips  Brooks,  Francis 
Parkman,  Judge  Aldrich,  Leverett  Saltonstall,  Dr. 
A.  P.  Peabody,  Dr.  A.  A.  Miner,  and  Robert  C. 
Winthrop 271 


XX  CONTENTS. 


VI. 

RELIGIOUS    OPINIONS    OF   THE    FATHERS    OF    NEW- 
ENGLAND. 

PAGB 

I.     The  Puritans  first  of  all,  Protestants  ;  appealed  to  the 
Bible  ;  justification  by  faith;  sanctity  of  the  Lord's- 
day.  —  Sermons  of  a  theological  character      .     .     .  282 
II.     Reformed   branch   of   the    Protestant    Church;    Cal- 

vinists  ;  Exalted  the  Sovereignty  of  God    ....  284 

III.  Their  interest  at  first  in  Church  polity.  —  Why?     .     .285 

I V.  Later,  their  interest  in  doctrine.  —  The  first  Catechisms, 

—  Strongly    Calvinistic.  —  Candidates   for   Church 
membership  required  to  state  their  views  in  theology. 

—  Church   Creeds.— The  first  Synod,  1637.— Mr. 
Pynchon's  book 286 

V.     The  Cambridge  Synod  ;  recommends  the  W^estminster 

Confession 291 

VI.  Thomas  Shepard  :  life  in  England  ;  escapes  in  disguise 
to  America  ;  pastor  at  Cambridge.  —  He  teaches  the 
decrees  :  freedom  of  the  will;  the  fall;  imputation  ; 
limited  atonement ;  faith  the  gift  of  God  ....  292 
VII.  John  Norton:  "The  Orthodox  Evangelist ;"  decrees  ; 
freedom  ;  unity  of  the  race  ;  grace  of  God  ;  parable 
of  the  Prodigal  Son;  saving  faith';  justification. — 
Thomas  Hooker:  the  great  preacher,  and  practical 
theologian  ;  a  free  will  ;  inability  to  good ;  power  of 
the  Holy  Spirit ;  motives  to  repentance  ....  295 
A'lII.  Willard's  Body  of  Divinity  :  election  and  reprobation  ; 
all  mankind  sinned  in  Adam  ;  the  Person  of  Christ ; 
satisfaction  of  God's  justice;  inability  to  good;  pas- 
sive regeneration;  the  work  of  the  Spirit    ....  302 

IX.  The  Half-Way  Covenant;  Synod  of  1662  accepts  the 
new  departure ;  opposition  to  the  decision ;  effect 
upon  the  churches.  —  Decline  of  piety.  —  Trust  in 
ordinances  and  forms.  —  Spread  of  Arminianism  .  305 
X.  The  Reforming  Synod  :  its  statements  in  respect  to 
the  decline  of  morality  and  religion;  appeal  for  a 
reformation  ;  seconded  by  the  General  Court      .     .  3H 


CONTENTS.  xxi 


XI.     Adoption  of  the  Savoy  Confession  ;  its  present  author- 
ity. —  Council  of  1865 319 

XII.     Practical  results  of  the  older  Calvinism  ;  a  remarkable 
type  of  religious  character.  —  A  democratic  tendency. 

—  Transmission  of  a  vigorous  type  of  manhood  .     .  321 

XIII.  Other  results  of  High  Calvinism  :  small  number  in  the 

Churches;  comparison  with  the  present  time       .     .  324 

XIV.  Declension  of  the  Puritan  Churches.  —  Statements  of 

Thomas  Prince  ;  Whitefield ;  the  younger  Edwards. 

—  Spread  of  Arminianism 326 

XV.     The  Edwardean  theology:  a  new  style  of  preaching; 

revivals  of  religion;  missionary  enterprises.  —  The 
New  England  theology 330 


VII. 

THE   CASE   OF   REVEREND   ROBERT   BRECK,  OF 
SPRINGFIELD. 

The  beginning  of  the  second  century  in  New  England  a  period  of  trans- 
ition. The  study  of  a  single  life  of  a  past  generation  shows  us  the  man- 
ners, opinions,  and  institutions  of  the  people. 

I.     Springfield  one  hundred  and  sixty  years  ago.  —  Pros- 
perity of  the  Connecticut  Valley 337 

II.     Church  and  State.— Four  qualities  required  of  minis- 
ters. —  Methods  of  calling  and  settling  pastors    .     .  338 

III.  Robert  Breck  in  early  life;  in  college  ;  as  a  candidate 

for  the  ministry;  called  to  Springfield;  opposition  of 
the  neighboring  pastors 342 

IV.  Replies  to  the  charges. — Asks  to  be  judged  by  his 

sermons,  not  by  reports.  —  Declines  the  call  .     .     .  345 
V.     The    people    not    satisfied.  —  The    ministers    advise 
against  renewing  the  call.  —  Mr.  Breck  returns,  and 

attempts  to  adjust  the  difficulties 348 

VI.  The  Church  renews  the  call.  —  Mr.  Breck  goes  to  Bos- 
ton for  advice  ;  is  examined  and  approved  in  Boston  ; 
and  accepts  the  call 350 


XXI  i  CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

VII.     A  Council  called  for  his  ordination.  —  Doubts  about 

its  legality. — Judges  summoned  to  Springfield  .  .  352 
VIII.  Meeting  of  the  Council;  a  remonstrance  presented; 
evidence  in  support  of  the  remonstrance;  the  pro- 
ceedings interrupted  by  the  arrest  of  Mr.  Breck, 
who  was  taken  from  the  Council  to  the  Court  House ; 
he  is  sent  into  Connecticut,  gives  bail,  and  returns 
to  Springfield;  the  Council  completes  the  examina- 
tion and  adjourns 356 

IX.     The  case  brought  before   the  General  Court,    which 
decides  that  the  Council  is  a  legal  Council.  —  The 
Council  again  meets  and  ordains  Mr.  Breck    .     .     .  362 
X.     Efforts  to  secure  judicial  action  to  remove  Mr.  Breck  .  364 

XI.  Work  of  the  young  minister;  growth  of  the  Church; 
forty-eight  years  of  usefulness ;  testimony  of  his 
associates 366 


VIII. 

THE  RELIGIOUS    LIFE   IN  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CEN- 
TURY   IN     NORTHERN     NEW     ENGLAND. 

Brunswick,  Maine. 

Northern  New  England  settled  in  the  eighteenth  century.  —  Difference 
between  the  older  and  the  newer  churches. 

I.     First  preaching  in  Brunswick:  the  first  meeting-house; 

its  environment 373 

II.     The  first  ministers  :  Rutherford ;  Dunlap ;  Miller.     .  374 

III.  Records  of  the  Parish 375 

IV.  The  connection  of  Church  and  State ;  reasons  why  it 

was  unfavorable  to  the  Church 376 

V.  Differences  among  the  people  in  regard  to  Church  gov- 
ernment :  Congregationalism  vs.  Presbyterianism.  — 
The  east  end  vs.  the  west  end  of  the  town.  —  The 
Lord's  Supper  ;  how  administered.  —  Baptism.  — 
The  style  of  church  music 378 


CONTENTS.  xxiii 


PAGE 


VI.     Habits  of  the  people  :  all  went  on  foot  to  the  church; 
the  saddle  and  piUion;  no  stoves  in  the  meeting- 
houses; tunes  used  in  the  choir ;  hymn-books      .     .  380 
VII.     The  ministers  of  those  days.  —  Samuel  Eaton.  —  Genu- 
ine manhood. —  Use  of  liquors 381 

VIII.     Religious  teachings  :  instruction  of  children  .     .     .     .  383 
IX.     Methods   of    pastoral  visiting. — Journal   of  an    old 

minister.  —  Revivals  of  religion 384 

X.     Permanent  qualities  of  their  religious  life.  —  Relation 

of  that  century  to  the  nineteenth 386 


Index 291 


List   of  Authorities   Referred   to, 


Adams,  Charles  Francis.    Three  Episodes  of  Massachusetts 

History.     Boston.     1892. 
AiNSWORTH,  H.     The  Book  of  Psahnes,  Englished,  both  in  prose 

and  metre.     Amsterdam.     161 2. 
Among  my  Books.     James  Russell  Lowell. 

Bacon,  Leonard.   Genesis  of  the  New  England  Churches.    1874. 
Bacon,  Lord,  Works.     Montagu  Edn. 
Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States.     6  vols.     1876. 
Bay  Psalm  Book.     Cambridge.     1640. 

BiBLIOTHECA  SACRA.       5I  VOls.       1844-1895. 

Bliss,  George.     Historical  Address.     Springfield.     1828. 

Blue  Laws:  False  and  True.     J.  Hammond  Trumbull.     1876. 

Boston  News  Letter,  published  from.     1704. 

Boston,  Memorial  History  of     4  vols. 

BowDOiN  College,  History  of. 

Bradford,  W.     History  of  Plymouth  Plantation.     Printed  from 

the  Original  Manuscript,  for  the  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.     1856. 
Browne,  Robert.     A  treatise  of  reformation  without  Tarrying 

for  Anie.     1582. 
Brunswick,  History  of.     1878. 

Cambridge  Platform  of  Church  Discipline.     1648. 
Campbell,  Douglass.     The  Puritan  in  Holland,  England,  and 

America.     2  vols.     1892. 
Canne,  J.     Necessitie  of  Separation  from  the  Church  of  England. 

1634. 
Congregational  Quarterly.     20  vols.     1859-1878.     Boston. 
Connecticut  Valley,  History  of  the. 


XXvi  LIST  OF  AUTHORITIES  REFERRED  TO. 

Contemporary  Review.     1892. 

Cotton,  John.     The  Keyes  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  and  Power 

thereof ;  according  to  the  Word  of  God.     London.     1644. 
Cotton,  John.     The  Way  of  the  Churches  of  New  England. 

1645. 
Cotton,  John.     Milk  for  Babes. 
Courtship  of  Miles  Standish.     Boston.     1859. 
Cumberland  Association.     Centennial  Pamphlet.     1891. 
Dexter,  Henry  M.     Congregationalism  as  seen  in  its  Literature. 

1880. 
Dexter,  Henry  M.     As  to  Roger  Williams.     1876. 
Dexter,  Morton.     The  Story  of  the  Pilgrims.     1894. 
Dunning,  A.  E.     Congregationalists  in  America.     1894. 
DwiGHT,  Sereno  E.     Life  of  President  Edwards. 
Edwards,  Jonathan,  President.      Inquiry  Concerning   Qualifi- 
cations for  Full  Communion. 
Edwards,  Jonathan,  D.D.     Works. 
Election  Sermons.     Massachusetts,     1668- 1669- 1670. 
Ellis.     The  Puritan  Age  and  Rule. 
Encyclopedia   Britannica.    9th  ed.    Articles  on  Education; 

Quakers ;  and  Witchcraft. 
Felt,  J.  B.     The  Ecclesiastical  History  of  New  England.     2  vols. 

Boston.     1862. 
Fisher,  George  E.,  Professor.    History  of  the  Christian  Church. 

1887. 
FiSKE,  John.     The  Beginnings  of  New  England.     1890. 
FoxE,  John.     The  Book  of  Martyrs. 
Froude,  James  Anthony.     History  of  England  from  the  Fall  of 

Cardinal  Wolsey  to  the  Defeat  of  the  Spanish  Armada.     12 

vols. 
Gardiner,  S.  R.     History   of  England  from   the   Accession  of 

James  I. 
General  History  of  Connecticut.   Rev.  Samuel  Peters.   1781. 
General  Laws  of  Massachusetts. 
Goodwin,  John  A.     The  Pilgrim  Republic.     1888. 
Green,  J.  R.     History  of  the  English  People.     4  vols.     1878. 
Greenleaf's,  Ecclesiastical  Sketches. 
Hallam,  Henry.     The  Constitutional  History  of  England. 
Harlow's  Address  at  Cape  Elizabeth. 


LIST  OF  AUTHORITIES  REFERRED   TO.  XXvii 

Hereditary  Genius.    Galton. 

Hill,  Hamilton  A.     History  of  the  Old  South  Church.     Boston. 
2  vols.     1888. 

Holland,  Dr.  J.  G.     History  of  Western  Massachusetts. 

Hood's  Music  in  New  England. 

Hooker,  Thomas.     The  Soul's  Vocation.     1638. 

Hooker,  Thomas.     A  Survey  of  the  Summe  of  Church-Disci- 
pline.    164S. 

Hooker,  Thomas.     The  Saints  Dignitie  and  Dutie. 

Hooker,  Thomas.     The  Unbeliever's  Preparing  for  Christ. 

Hooker,  Richard.     The  Laws  of  Ecclesiastical  Polity. 

Jefferson's  Notes  in  Virginia. 

Johnson,  Edward.  The  Wonder-Working  Providence  of  Sion's 
Saviour.     1654. 

Lechford,  T.     Plain  Dealing.     1642. 

Life  of  Colonel  Hutchinson.    By  his  widow. 

Longfellow,  H.  W.,  Life  and  Letters  of.     2  vols. 

Macaulay,  T.  B.     History  of  England.    4  vols. 

Martin-Mar-prelate;  Tracts.     1588-89. 

Massachusetts  Historical  Society's  Collections. 

Mather,  Richard.  Church  Government  and  Church  Covenant 
discussed.     1643. 

Mather,  Cotton.  Ratio  Disciplince  Fratrum  Nov-Anglorum. 
1726. 

Mather,  Cotton.     Magnalia  Christi  Americana.     1702. 

Milton,  John.     Lycidas. 

Minister's  Wooing.     Mrs.  H.  B.  Stowe. 

Morris,  Henry.  History  of  the  First  Church  in  Springfield, 
Mass.     1875. 

Morton,  Nathaniel.     New  England  Memorial. 

Motley.     United  Netherlands. 

Mourt's  Relation;  or  Journal  of  the  Plantation  at  Plymouth. 
1865.     Edited  by  Dr.  H.  M.  Dexter. 

Narrative  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Ministers  of  Hamp- 
shire County.  Answer  to  the  same.  Letter  to  the  Author 
of  the  Answer.     Three  Pamphlets.     Boston.     1736-37. 

National  Congregational  Council,  Debates  and  Proceed- 
ings.    1865. 

Neal,  S.  D.     History  of  the  Puritans.     4  vols.     1732. 


XXVI 11  LIST  OP  AUTHORITIES  REFERRED  TO. 

New  England's  First  Fruits.     London.     1643. 

New  England  Historical  and  Genealogical  Register. 

New  England  Primmer. 

Norton,  John.     A  Discussion  of  the  Sufferings  of  Christ.    Reply 

to  Pynchon.     1653. 
Norton,  John.     The  Orthodox  Evangelist.     1654. 
Old  Town  Folks.     Mrs.  H.  B.  Stowe. 
Palfrey,  J.  G.     History  of  New  England.     5  vols. 
Porter,  Noah.     New  England  Meeting-Houses.     Article  in  New 

Englander.      1883. 
Prince,  Thomas.     A  Chronological  History  of  New  England  in 

the  Form  of  Annals.     1736. 
Province  Laws.     Massachusetts.     Vols.  L-HL 
Puritanism  in  the   Old  World  and  in  the  New.     Rev.  J. 

Gregory.     New  York.     1896. 
Pynchon,  William.     The  Meritorious  Price  of  our  Redemption, 

Justification,  etc.     1650. 
Pynchon,   William.      Manuscript   Records.      Springfield    City 

Library. 
Ravenscroft.     The  Psalter.     1621. 
Records  of  the  Church  in  Roxbury.     Record  Commissioners 

report,     Roxbury.     6.     1880. 
Records  of  the  Colony  of  Connecticut. 
Records  of  the  Colony  of  Massachusetts. 
Records  of  the  Colony  of  Plymouth. 
Results  of  the  Synods  of  1662  and  1669,  i^  the  Magnalia. 
Robinson,  John.     Works.    3  vols.     1851. 
Scarlet  Letter.     Nathaniel  Hawthorne. 
Sewall,  Samuel,    Diary    of,   1674-1729.      Mass.  Hist.   Society 

Publications.     2  vols. 
Shepard,  Thomas.    Works.    3  vols.     1855. 
Simple  Cobbler  of  Agawam.     Nathaniel  Ward.     1647. 
Some  Old  Puritan  Love-Letters.    Twichell.     1893. 
Sprague,  William  B.  Annals  of  the  American  Pulpit.  Vols.  L-IL 
Stoddard,  S.     An  Appeal  to  the  Learned.     1709. 
Strype,  J.     Workes.     [Whitgift.] 
Tarbox,  Increase  N.      Art.  on  the  Pilgrims.     Collections  of 

the  Old  Colony  Hist.  Soc. 
The  Pilgrim  Fathers.     Rev.  John  Brown.     New  York.     1895. 


LIST  OF  AUTHORITIES  REFERRED  TO.  XXIX 

Tracy,  Joseph.     The  Great  Awakening.     1841. 

TwiCHELL,  Joseph  H.     John  Winthrop.     1892. 

Waddington,  J.     Congregational  Martyrs.     1861. 

Walker,  Williston.  Creeds  and  Platforms  of  Congregational- 
ism.    1893. 

Walker,  Williston.  A  History  of  the  Congregational  Churches. 
1894. 

Westminster  Confession  of  Faith,  and  Catechisms. 

Whitefield,  George.     Journals,  and  Life. 

WiLLARD,  Samuel.     A  Compleat  Body  of  Divinity.     1726. 

WiNSLOW,  E.     Brief  Narration.     1622. 

Winthrop,  John.  Journal  of  Transactions  in  the  Settlement  of 
Massachusetts.     1790. 

Winthrop,  R.  C,  Life  and  Letters  of  John  Winthrop.  2  vols. 
1864-67. 

Young,  Alexander.    Chronicles  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers.     1841. 


Some   Important   Dates  in   Puritan 
History. 


1324    John  Wyclif  born.     Died  1384. 

1380     Wyclif 's  New  Testament. 

1525     Tyndale's  New  Testament. 

1 53 1     Henry  the  Eighth  acknowledged  as  Supreme  Head  of  the 

Church  of  England. 
1535     Coverdale's  Bible. 
1547     Edward  the  Sixth  ascends  the  throne. 
1553     Mary  becomes  Queen. 
1555     Persecution  of  Protestants  begins. 
1558     Elizabeth  becomes  Queen. 

Acts  of  Supremacy  and  Uniformity. 

1564  The  name  Puritan  first  used. 

1565  The  Dean  of  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  imprisoned  for  Non- 

conformity. 
1572     Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew. 
1575     John  Robinson  born. 

1580     Separatist  Church  in  Norwich  under  Robert  Browne. 
1583     Whitgift,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 

Ecclesiastical  Commission  receives  new  powers. 

Two  Puritans  hung  for  Non-conformity. 

1588     Defeat  of  the  Spanish  Armada. 
1588-89     Martin  Mar-prelate  tracts. 

1593     Barrowe,  Greenwood,  and  Penry  publicly  executed  for  their 
Non-conformity. 

1602  The  Separatist  Church  at  Gainsborough. 

1603  Death  of  Queen  Elizabeth.     James  the  First  ascends  the 

throne.     Millenary  Petition. 


XXXll        IMPORTANT  DATES  IN  PURITAN  HISTORY. 

1604  Hampton  Court  Conference. 

1605  Three  hundred  Ministers  expelled  from  their  parishes  for 

Non-conformity. 

1606  Church  formed  at  Scrooby. 

1607-08     The  Pilgrims  removed  to  Amsterdam. 

1609  The  Pilgrims  Settled  at  Leyden. 

161 1  Authorized  Version  of  the  Bible. 

1618  Thirty  Years  War  begun. 

1620  The  Pilgrims  land  at  Plymouth. 

1 62 1  Death  of  Governor  Carver.     Bradford  chosen  Governor. 
1625  Charles  the  First  ascends  the  throne. 

1628  Endicott  lands  at  Salem,  with  a  colony. 

1629  A  Charter  granted  for  the  Massachusetts  Company. 

Agreement  to  settle  in  Massachusetts  signed,  in  Cambridge, 

by  Winthrop  and  others. 

Re-enforcements  sent  to  Salem,  with  Higginson. 

Puritan  Church  formed  at  Salem,  August  6. 

1630  Governor  Winthrop  arrives  in  Massachusetts  with  a  large 

colony  of  Puritans. 

Boston  settled.     First  General  Court  in  Massachusetts. 

1633     Laud,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 

1635  First  Settlement  in  Connecticut. 

1636  Harvard  College  founded. 

1637  The  first  Massachusetts  Synod. 

The  case  of  John  Hampden  tried,  in  England. 

1639  The  Constitution  of  Connecticut  adopted. 

1640  The  Long  Parliament  met. 

The  Bay  Psalm  Book,  printed. 

1643-48     Westminster  Assembly. 

Confederacy  of  the  colonies  of  New  England. 

1644     Death  of  Elder  Brewster. 

1646-48     Cambridge  Synod.     Platform  of  Church  Government. 

1649     Execution  of  Charles  the  First. 

1 65 1     Hugh  Parsons  tried  in  Springfield  for  Witchcraft. 

1653     Oliver  Cromwell,  Lord  Protector. 

1656-62     Persecution  of  the  Quakers. 

1658     Death  of  Cromwell. 

The  Savoy  Synod  adopts  a  Confession  of  Faith. 

1660    The  Restoration  of  the  Stuarts. 


IMPORTANT  DATES  IN  PURITAN  HISTORY.       XXXIU 

1662  The  Boston  Synod  adopts  the  Half -Way  Covenant. 
1673  The  first  Church  organized  in  Maine,  at  York. 
The  Act  of  Uniformity  re-enacted  in  England. 

1679  The  Reforming  Synod. 

1680  The  Synod  adopts  the  Savoy  Confession. 
1691-92     Witchcraft  in  Salem  and  elsewhere. 
1691  Charter  of  the  Province  of  Massachusetts. 
1 70 1  Yale  College  founded. 

1708  The  Saybrook  Platform  adopted. 

1709  The  General  Association  of  Connecticut  Ministers  organized. 
1 716  Yale  College  located  at  New  Haven. 

1727  Jonathan  Edwards  ordained,  Northampton. 

1734-40    The  Great  Awakening. 

1738  The  Methodists  appear  in  London. 

1740  Whitefield  preaches  in  New  England. 

1750  Jonathan  Edwards  dismissed  from  Northampton. 

1754  Edwards'  Work  on  The  Freedom  of  the  Will. 

1758  Death  of  President  Edwards. 

1762  Church  in  Bennington,  Vt.,  organized. 

1 769  Dartmouth  College  founded. 


Introduction. 

By  Alexander  McKenzie,  D.D. 

THE  design  of  this  book  is  a  large  one.  While 
many  books  have  been  written  about  the  Puritans, 
a  continued  study  of  the  men  and  their  work  is  de- 
manded, and  will  have  an  ample  reward.  The  time 
seems  to  have  come  when  they  can  be  studied  intel- 
ligently and  impartially;  and  there  is  good  reason 
to  believe  that  the  better  they  are  known,  and  the 
more  accurately  their  work  is  estimated,  the  more 
thorough  will  be  the  admiration  which  is  the  result. 
It  is  difficult  for  one  to  set  himself  back  two  or 
three  centuries,  and  there  rightly  to  judge  the  events 
which  are  around  him.  Yet  it  is  the  grateful  and 
patriotic  duty  of  every  person  in  this  country  to  gain 
for  himself  a  distinct  knowledge  of  the  forces  which 
made  the  beginning  of  our  national  life.  We  shall  be 
helped  to  carry  on  the  incomplete  work,  if  we  know 
the  method  and  meaning  of  its  origin.  The  very  word 
origin  presents  a  broad  and  inviting  field  for  research. 
Whence  came  the  name  Puritan?  "  The  Church  of  the 
Purity  "  is  an  old  phrase ;  and  if  the  name  grew  out  of 
an  ancient  sneer,  as  has  been  suggested,  it  is  well  to 
know  by  what  means,  and  by  what  men,  it  has  justified 


XXXVl  INTRODUCTION. 

itself,  and  changed  a  term  of  scorn  to  one  of  honor. 
Where  shall  the  study  of  the  Puritans  begin?  Certainly 
not  on  the  coast  of  Massachusetts.  Nor  can  it  begin  in 
England;  nor  in  Holland.  We  are  led  back  to  events 
which  concerned  the  entire  history  of  Europe,  as  we 
follow  the  Puritan  idea  towards  its  inception.  But  what 
period  of  modern  history  is  more  helpful,  and  what 
historic  line  can  be  more  clearly  traced  than  this,  as  it 
runs  in  its  unbroken  way?  It  is  not  strange,  but  it  is 
interesting  to  mark  that  the  best  account  we  have  had  of 
the  earlier  Puritanism  is  given  by  an  English  historian. 
The  fine  pages  of  John  Richard  Green  are  as  instructive 
as  they  are  delightful.  It  is  a  very  full  and  compact 
sentence  in  which  he  describes  the  transition  into 
which  Puritanism  was  carried :  **  It  ceased  from  the  long 
attempt  to  build  up  a  kingdom  of  God  by  force  and 
violence,  and  fell  back  on  its  truer  work  of  building  up 
a  kingdom  of  righteousness  in  the  hearts  and  consciences 
of  men."  It  is  sincere  and  enlightened  testimony  which 
he  gives,  that  Puritanism  had  made  the  mass  of  English- 
men "■  serious,  earnest,  sober  in  life  and  conduct,  firm 
in  their  love  of  Protestantism  and  of  freedom.  .  .  .  The 
history  of  English  progress  since  the  Restoration,  on  its 
moral  and  spiritual  sides,  has  been  the  history  of  Puri- 
tanism." Surely  there  is  room  for  diligent  study,  and 
no  study  is  more  essential  here,  and  at  this  time,  than 
that  which  makes  us  wise  in  our  past  that  we  may  be 
prudent  in  our   future. 

There  are  several  questions  of  interest  which  arise 
when  the    mind  turns  to   this  subject.     One  of  these, 


INTRODUCTION.  XXXVli 

and  one  of  the  largest,  is  suggested  by  the  first  part 
of  the  title  of  the  work  now  before  us,  —  Puritanism 
in  England.  What  was  this?  What  was  its  relation 
to  the  government  and  to  the  Church  of  England? 
What  was  England  then,  in  itself  and  in  its  relation 
to  the  continent  ?  There  were  three  parties  in  the 
Church :  those  who  were  content  with  things  as  they 
were;  those  who  were  discontented,  but  proposed  to 
remain  where  they  were  and  work  out  such  reforms 
as  were  possible ;  and  those  who  boldly  came  out,  and 
made  a  new  start  according  to  what  they  believed  to  be 
an  older  and  a  better  way.  Which  was  the  better  of 
the  two  plans  of  reformation,  which  has  proved  the 
more  effectual,  is  a  question  for  the  student  of  history, 
especially  the  student  of  English  and  American  history. 
But  this  was  not  purely  an  English  movement,  even 
in  its  immediate  working.  We  have  always  recog- 
nized the  influence  of  their  life  in  Holland  upon 
those  who  sought  refuge  there  from  the  persecution  in 
England.  That  Leyden  offered  not  merely  hospitality 
and  freedom,  but  the  best  school  in  the  world  for  the 
training  of  men  in  the  principles  of  liberty,  and  in  en- 
durance for  the  sake  of  liberty,  is  beyond  question. 
The  siege  of  Leyden  was  too  near  to  have  lost  its 
influence  ovey  any  who  walked  through  the  streets  and 
among  the  houses  where  men  and  women  had  starved 
and  died  for  freedom,  or  who  looked  across  the  fields 
over  which  ships  had  sailed  bringing  them  bread.  But 
of  late  there  is  an  attempt  greatly  to  magnify  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Dutch  upon  the  English.     That  the  large 


XXXViii  INTRODUCTION. 

numbers  who  came  from  Holland,  and  were  associated  in 
many  ways  with  the  English,  were  of  great  service,  not 
merely  in  their  handicrafts,  but  in  their  knowledge  of  reli- 
gious liberty,  should  be  promptly  acknowledged.  But  to 
what  extent  this  influence  made  Puritans  into  exiles,  and 
then  into  Pilgrims,  is  a  question  to  be  calmly  considered. 

The  connection  between  the  Plymouth  and  the 
Massachusetts  Colony,  in  men,  in  spirit,  in  method, 
in  result,  again  calls  for  careful  study.  It  is  only  by 
a  comprehensive  view  of  these  separate,  yet  aUied, 
movements  that  justice  can  be  done  to  either  Colony. 
Nothing  can  be  settled  by  setting  one  point  against 
another  point.  The  two  spheres  of  life  must  be  com- 
pared, and  this  will  be  to  the  advantage  of  both. 

It  will  be  long  before  men  agree  upon  the  wisdom 
and  justice  of  the  Puritan  polity  in  general,  as  it  was 
developed  here  in  Massachusetts.  That  the  policy  was 
narrow  and  strict  may  be  at  once  admitted.  Whether 
it  could  have  been  more  lenient  and  flexible  is  a  fair 
inquiry.  It  has  been  answered  in  various  ways.  In  the 
spirit  of  our  own  times  it  is  easy  to  say  that  a  more  lib- 
eral method  of  legislation  would  have  been  practicable, 
and  in  all  respects  better.  On  the  other  hand,  some 
deference  must  be  paid  to  the  integrity  and  justice  of 
the  men  who  were  in  charge  of  affairs  at  that  time. 
They  were  not  weak,  and  they  were  not  bigots.  They 
had  not  made  themselves  exiles  that  they  might  prepare 
an  arena  where  all  kinds  of  beliefs  might  disport  them- 
selves. They  had  come  three  thousand  miles,  at  a  great 
cost  of  money  and  of  feeling,    that   they   might   here 


INTRODUCTION.  XXXIX 

make  a  better  England  according  to  their  own  con- 
victions of  that  which  was  true  and  right.  While,  as  the 
work  of  sensible  men,  their  movement  had  a  commercial 
quality,  they  weighed  *'  the  greatness  of  the  work  in  re- 
gard of  the  consequence,  God's  glory  and  the  Church's 
good."  If  others  would  join  them  in  their  enterprise, 
they  were  welcome.  How  far  they  should  tolerate  men 
and  women  who  had  different  views  of  truth  and  duty, 
and  allow  them  to  teach  their  contrary  opinions,  in  those 
early  and  critical  days,  may  be  still  an  open  question. 
It  is  very  likely  that  a  wider  toleration  would  have  been 
less  perilous  than  they  supposed.  They  seem  to  have 
interfered  with  no  person's  opinions  except  in  so  far  as 
these  interfered  with  the  things  which  they  deemed 
essential  to  the  safety  of  the  Colony.  If  their  rules 
were  strict,  banishment  to  Rhode  Island  does  not 
seem  to  have  been  severe.  Perhaps  it  was  well  that 
there  was  near  at  hand  a  pleasanter  place  than  this 
eastern  coast.  Perhaps  Utopia  must  always  have  its 
supplemental  Narragansett. 

It  is  not  the  province  of  an  introduction  to  discuss 
these  matters.  There  are  many  things  of  less  im- 
port which  are  of  interest  in  connection  with  the 
Puritans.  These  relate  to  the  manner  of  their  life 
here;  their  method  of  government;  their  churches 
and  forms  of  worship;  their  homes  and  their  domestic 
concerns  ;  their  books  and  schools ;  their  charities  and 
their  sports;  and  all  which  made  up  their  daily  life. 
There  is  abundance  of  material  for  many  interesting 
pages  which  will  make  curious  and  instructive  reading. 


Xl  INTRODUCTION. 

But  for  all  these  things  the  reader  must  turn  to  the 
chapters  from  which  he  has  been  too  long  detained. 
I  am  confident  that  he  will  find  here  the  results  of 
honest  and  patient  study,  presented  in  an  attractive 
way,  with  a  style  remarkably  clear  and  strong ;  so  that 
he  is  taken  from  chapter  to  chapter  along  pleasant  paths, 
with  an  increasing  knowledge  of  the  Puritan  and  of  all 
which  the  name  stands  for,  and  with  a  growing  and 
abiding  admiration  of  the  ancestry  to  which  every 
American  owes  so  much.  It  will  encourage  the  faith- 
ful study  of  a  book  like  this  to  remember  that  the 
permanence  and  extension  of  the  Puritan  work  depend 
upon  us  and  those  who  shall  come  after  us.  We  have  a 
wonderful  opportunity,  but  it  is  entirely  in  keeping  with 
our  wonderful  history.  It  will  encourage  us  still  further 
if  we  can  believe  the  generous  prophecy  of  John  Richard 
Green  in  his  History  of  the  English  People :  ''  In  the 
centuries  that  lie  before  us,  the  primacy  of  the  world 
will  lie  with  the  English  People.  English  institutions, 
English  speech,  English  thought,  will  become  the  main 
features  of  the  political,  the  social,  and  the  intellectual 
life  of  mankind.  ...  In  the  days  that  are  at  hand,  the 
main  current  of  that  people's  history  must  run  along  the 
channel,  not  of  the  Thames  or  the  Mersey,  but  of  the 
Hudson  and  the  Mississippi." 


The  First  Church  in  Cambridge, 
March,  1896. 


I. 

The   Puritan  in   England, 


ERRATA. 

Page  56,  Hampton  Court,  not  Hampden. 
„    121,  Emmanuel  College,  not  Emanuel. 
„     121,  St.  Botolph,  not  Buttolph. 


I. 

The   Puritan  in  England. 


The   Puritan  in   England. 


A  MONG  the  great  types  of  character  that 
have  left  a  permanent  mark  upon  modern 
history  we  must  place  the  English  Puritans. 
Macaulay  speaks  of  them  as  perhaps  "  the  most 
remarkable  body  of  men  which  the  world  has 
ever  produced."  Hallam  says  "  the  Puritans 
were  the  depositaries  of  the  sacred  fire  of  lib- 
erty." Hume  writes  that  "  the  precious  spark  of 
liberty  had  been  kindled  and  was  preserved  by 
the  Puritans  alone  ;  "  and  that  "  it  is  to  them  that 
the  English  owe  the  whole  freedom  of  their 
Constitution."  Carlyle  says,  in  his  Introduction 
to  the  Letters  and  Speeches  of  Cromwell :  "  One 
wishes  there  were  a  history  of  English  Puri- 
tanism,—  the  last  of  all  our  Heroisms,  but  sees 
small  prospect  of  such  a  thing  at  present.  Few 
nobler  Heroisms,  —  at  bottom  perhaps,  —  no 
nobler  Heroism  ever  transacted  itself  on  this 
earth."  Other  writers  on  the  history  of  the 
English  people  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
centuries  speak  of  the  services  which  the   Puri- 


4        THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

tans   rendered    to   religion    and    to   freedom    in 
similar  terms. 

It  is  considerably  more  than  three  centuries 
since  Puritanism  became  a  power  in  moulding 
the  people  of  English  birth  and  speech.  Both 
En2:land  and  America  have  felt  their  influence 
as  well  upon  the  political  institutions  of  the 
people,  as  upon  their  intellectual  development, 
and  their  religious  life.  If  that  influence  has 
been  more  decided  in   America  than 

Puritan  influ-     .  .  i        -r*      • 

ence  in  New  m  England  it  IS  bccausc  the  Puritans 
in  this  country  had  the  advantage  of 
working  in  the  forming  period  of  our  history, 
when  they  were  not  limited  by  the  power  of 
established  customs.  For  a  hundred  and  fifty 
years  our  Puritan  fathers  and  their  descendants 
lived  here  an  isolated  and  peculiar  people.  There 
was  very  little  admixture  of  foreign  blood.  In 
this  new  country  they  were  free  to  build  the 
Church  and  the  state  according  to  their  own 
ideas.  During  that  period  the  New  England 
spirit  was  developed,  and  embodied  in  the  Puri- 
tan churches  and  colleges  and  schools,  and  in 
the  political  institutions  of  the  New  England 
colonies.  About  twenty-one  thousand  persons 
came  from  England  within  the  twelve  years 
between  1628  and  1640.  There  was  never  after- 
wards any  considerable  increase  of  their  numbers 
from  England.     From  these  twenty-one  thousand 


THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND. 


people  about  one  fourth^  of  the  present  popula- 
tion of  the  United  States  have  descended.  The 
Puritan  element  in  our  population  has  been  the 
controlling  power  in  the  republic.  It  has  been 
modified  by  other  influences,  from  Scotland,  and 
France,  and  Holland,  as  the  country  has  grown 
older,  but  on  the  whole.  New  England  principles 
and  institutions  have  been  moulding  the  whole 
people  and  directing  the  policy  of  the  nation. 


I. 

If  we  would  understand  the  Puritans  who 
planted  the  colonies  on  this  side  of  the  sea,  we 
must  trace  their  history  back  to  the  mother 
country.  For  our  Pilgrim  and  Puritan  fathers 
were  a  part  of  the  great  Puritan  party 

^  •  r  1  Power  of  the 

which  had  been  growmg  for  about  a  Puritan  party 
century  before  1620,  and  which  was  of  "*^'*^^^^- 
sufficient  strength  not  only  to  plant  colonies  in 
New  England,  but  also  to  overthrow  the  ar- 
bitrary power  of  the  Stuarts,  and  establish  the 
Commonwealth  in  1649,  and,  forty  years  later,  to 
secure  the  political  and  religious  liberties  of  the 
English  people,  by  a  revolution  under  William 

1  Mr.  Bancroft  states  that  in  1834  one  third  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States  were  descendants  of  the  first  settlers  of  Massachu- 
setts. Vol.  I.  375.  Mr.  John  Fiske  says  one  fourth  the  present  popu- 
lation have  come  from  them.    "  Beginnings  of  New  England,"  143. 


6         THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

and    Mary,   which    made    England   a   free    and 
Protestant  kingdom  for  all  time. 

The  history  of  the  English  Puritans  is  almost 

the  same  as  that  of  the  Protestant  Reformation 

in  England.     It  is  plain  that  the  beginning  of 

the  Reformation  was  at  least  as  far  back  as  the 

time  of  Wyclif,  in  the  last  half  of  the 

Beginnings  of  -^  .  .        . 

the  Reforma-  fourteenth  ccntury.  He  was  born  m  the 
year  1324.  He  was  the  foremost  among 
the  scholars  of  his  time.  His  spare  and  ema- 
ciated frame  had  been  weakened  by  study,  and 
by  the  severe  discipline  to  which  he  subjected  him- 
self. But  within  this  frail  form  there  was  a  mind 
of  great  capacity,  —  a  restless  and  indomitable 
spirit,  —  and  a  conscience  which  directed  all  his 
life.  He  was  the  special  friend  of  John  of  Gaunt, 
who  was  able  to  protect  him  from  the  power  of 
the  ecclesiastics.  His  great  work  was  the  trans- 
lation of  the  Bible  into  English,  and  his  defence 
of  the  right  of  every  man  to  read  the  Scriptures 
in  his  own  tongue.  He  denied  the  doctrine  of 
transubstantiation,  and  asserted  that,  in  the  primi- 
tive Church,  there  were  but  two  sorts  of  clergy. 
He  was  opposed  to  the  multiplication  of  ranks 
in  the  clergy.  He  advocated  a  simple  form  of 
worship,  and  spoke  against  auricular  confession. 
John  Wyclif :  ^^^  protcst  was  agaiust  the  practices  of 
I324-I384.  ^\^Q  Church,  rather  than  against  its  doc- 
trines.    He  was  the  father  of  our  English  prose, 


THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND. 


as  Chaucer  was  the  father  of  English  poetry. 
He  made  his  appeal  boldly  to  the  people,  against 
the  threats  of  the  ecclesiastics.  "  I  believe  that 
in  the  end  the  truth  will  conquer,"  he  said.  He 
issued  a  multitude  of  tracts  in  the  language  of 
the  common  people,  in  which  he  attacked  the 
worship  of  the  saints  and  of  images,  the  idle  and 
scandalous  lives  of  the  clergy,  pardons,  indul- 
gences, and  pilgrimages  to  the  shrines  of  the 
saints.  He  organized  and  sent  forth  an  order 
of  preachers,  who  were  called  "  Simple  Priests." 
They  went  everywhere  among  the  people,  wear- 
ing the  long  russet-dress  by  which  they  were 
known ;  and  they  preached  the  doctrines  of  Wyclif 
so  forcibly,  that  it  was  said,  a  few  years  later, 
"  Every  second  man  you  meet  is  a  disciple  of 
Wyclif."  They  were  found  in  the  cities  as  well 
as  among  the  peasants  of  the  country.  Some 
of  the  nobility,  and  some  of  the  men  of  learning, 
adopted  his  opinions. 

If  Wyclif  had  lived  a  hundred  and  fifty  years 
later,  it  is  very  likely  that  the  Protestant  Refor- 
mation in  England  would  have  been  ^^^^^^^^^^ 
developed  under  his  lead,  somewhat  as 
the  Reformation  in  Germany  was  under  Luther. 
But  Wyclif  had  not  the  advantage  of  the  print- 
ing-press, nor  of  the  great  intellectual  awaken- 
ing that  accompanied  the  revival  of  learning. 
The    people   of    his    time,   although    they    wel- 


8      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


corned  the  truths  which  he  gave  them,  were 
not  intelHgent  and  stable  enough  to  hold  and 
transmit  these  truths,  in  spite  of  the  determined 
opposition  which  they  aroused.  The  severe  per- 
secution which  followed  his  death  checked  the 
progress  of  his  doctrines.  His  followers  were 
called  Lollards  —  that  is,  idle  babblers  —  by  their 
enemies.  Very  severe  laws  for  the  punishment 
of  heresy  were  enacted  in  the  reign  of  Henry 
the  Fourth.  Thirty-nine  prominent  Lollards 
were  put  to  death  in  a  single  year ;  and  a  much 
larger  number  of  the  common  people.  The 
movement  for  reform  lost  the  vigor  and  hope- 
fulness which  it  had  shown  at  the  outset.  But 
it  continued  to  live  through  the  next  century  and 
a  half.  Little  is  said  about  it  by  the  historians, 
except  when  the  movement  showed  its  power  in 
some  struggle  for  the  rights  of  the  people  against 
arbitrary  power.  Passages  from  Wyclif's  Bible 
and  from  his  tracts  were  copied  by  hand  and 
passed  about  from  cottage  to  cottage.  The  Lol- 
lard preachers,  clad  in  their  long  russet  robes, 
with  their  pilgrim  staves,  went  barefoot  from 
village  to  village,  reading  the  Word  of  God  to  the 
common  people,  and  making  them  familiar  with 
its  teachings  and  its  histories.  This  was  the 
preliminary  work  of  the  Reformation.  The  Lol- 
lards were  the  Puritans  of  the  fifteenth  century. 
They   were   numerous   in   the    eastern  counties 


THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND. 


of  England,  the  very  section  where,  at  a  later 
time,  Puritanism  had  its  greatest  strength.  As 
late  as  1520,  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln  reported  that 
Lollardism  was  very  troublesome  in  his  diocese. 
As  many  as  two  hundred  heretics  were  brought 
before  him  in  the  course  of  a  single  episcopal 
visitation. 

II. 

The  Reformation  in  England  in  the  sixteenth 
century  was  very  different  from  the  Reformation 
that  was  in  progress  on  the  continent.  In  Eng- 
land, the  movement  was  not  religious  but  politi- 
cal. On  the  continent,  it  was  intensely  religious. 
This  distinction  is  important  because  it  is  proba- 
ble that  if  the  Reformation  in  England  had  been 
like  that  in  Germany  and  in  Switzerland 
and  in  France,  there  would  have  been  between  the 
no  such  thing  as  the  Puritan  party  ^^l^T^t 
in  England.  All  over  Europe  there  ^<^"^y- 
had  been  a  preparation  for  a  great  movement  for 
the  reform  of  the  Church.  The  books  of  Wyclif 
had  been  read  as  far  away  as  Bohemia.  There 
was  a  new  interest  everywhere  in  the  Bible. 
Men  were  longing  for  a  simple  gospel.  Luther 
was  prepared  for  his  work  as  the  leader  of  the 
Reformation  by  a  very  deep  religious  experience. 
"  Ah,"  he  exclaimed,  at  one  time,  "  with  what 
anxiety  and   labor,  with   what  searching  of  the 


10      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

Scriptures,  have  I  justified  myself,  in  conscience, 
in  standing  up  alone  against  the  Pope."  "  Here 
I  take  my  stand,"  he  said,  in  the  presence  of  the 
Diet,  and  of  the  Emperor;  "I  can  do  naught 
else.  May  God  help  me.  Amen."  It  was  this 
deep  religious  spirit  which  made  the  words  of 
Luther  so  effective.  Those  who  had  been  long- 
ing and  praying  for  a  reform  were  eager  to  join 
the  great  movement.  The  Protestants  all  stood 
together,  in  opposition  to  the  errors  against  which 
they  protested. 

But  in  England  the  movement  for  separation 
from  the  Church  of  Rome  began  with  the  king, 
not  with  the  people.  Henry  the  Eighth  was 
never  a  Protestant,  in  the  sense  in  which  the 
German  Reformers  were.  He  had  earned  the 
title  of  Defender  of  the  Faith  by  his  book  in 
reply  to  Luther's  work  on  the  Sacraments.  The 
books  of  Luther  were  solemnly  burned  at  St. 
Paul's,  and  orders  were  issued  for  the  persecution 
of  heretics.  To  the  end  of  his  life,  Henry  was 
in  most  respects  a  Romanist.  The  Law  of  the 
Six  Articles,  which  he  approved,  sanctioned  the 
sacrifice  of  the  Mass,  the  communion  in  one 
kind,  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy,  monastic  vows, 
private  masses,  and  auricular  confession.  The 
so-called  Reformation  in  his  reign  was  incom- 
plete and  superficial.  He  broke  away  from  the 
Church  of  Rome  for  reasons  that  were  personal 


THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND.  1 1 

and  political,  rather  than  religious.  Virtually, 
the  Church  of  England  exchanged  one  Pope  for 
another.  Henry  denied  the  supremacy  of  the 
Pope,  but  made  himself  the  head  of  the  English 
Church.  He  condemned  to  death  those  who 
denied  transubstantiation,  and  those  who  denied 
his  supremacy  over  the  Church. 


III. 

Yet  all  through  his  reign  the  Reformation 
was  making  progress  among  the  people.  The 
new  translations  of  the  Scriptures,  by  Tyndale 
and  Coverdale,  were  printed  and  scattered  far 
and  wide.  Later  in  the  reign,  the  king  or- 
dered the  English  Bible  to  be  read  in  the 
churches. 

In  the  short  reign  of  Edward  the  Sixth,  the 
Protestant  Book  of  Common  Prayer  was  issued, 
and  a  Protestant  Confession  was  prepared  and 
imposed  upon  the  Church  by  authority.  But 
Queen  Mary  restored  the  Mass,  set  aside  the 
new  Prayer  Book,  and,  as  far  as  practicable, 
brought  back  England  to  its  old  relations  to 
the  Church  of  Rome.  The  great  majority  of  the 
priests,  and  of  the  people  accepted  the  changes. 
But  there  were  many  who  held  tenaciously  to 
the  Protestant  faith.  More  than  three  hundred 
were  burned  at   the  stake,  and  their  constancy 


12      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND   AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

gave  new  strength  to  their  cause.  Eight  hun- 
dred more  whose  lives  were  in  danger  escaped 
beyond  the  sea,  and  spent  the  years  of  her  reign 
in  close  association  with  the  Protestants  on  the 
continent.  When  Latimer  was  burned,  he  said, 
"  We  shall  this  day  light  such  a  candle,  by  God's 
grace,  in  England,  as,  I  trust,  shall  never  be  put 
out."  When  Cramner,  the  Archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury, was  led  to  the  stake,  the  act  excited  feel- 
ings of  abhorrence  among  the  people.  His  mar- 
tyrdom has  been  regarded  as  the  death-blow  to 
Catholicism  in  England. 


IV. 

The  accession  of  Elizabeth  to  the  throne,  in 
1558,  was  the  critical  period  in  the  history  of 
the  English  Reformation.  The  young  queen 
was  commonly  believed  to  be  a  Protestant,  al- 
though she  had  conformed  to  the  Catholic  ritual 
during  the  reign  of  Mary.  Her  first  acts  en- 
couraged the  hopes  of  the  Reformers.  She 
released  all  the  prisoners  confined  for  their  relig- 
ion by  her  sister,  and  encouraged  the  Protestant 
exiles  to  return  to  England.  She  kissed  the 
English  Bible  which  the  people  of  London  pre- 
sented to  her,  and  promised  "  diligently  to  read 
therein."  She  restored  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,  which  had  been  hallowed  by  the  suffer- 


THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND.  1 3 

ings  of  the  martyrs ;  but  she  caused  certain  alter= 
ations  to  be  made  in  the  Book,  which  were  de- 
signed to  recommend  it  to  the  Romanists.  She 
said  to  the  Spanish  embassador,  "  I  shall  do  as 
my  father  used  to  do."  By  the  Act  of  Suprem- 
acy, passed  in  the  first  year  of  her  The  Act  of 
reign,  the  queen  was  declared  to  be  supremacy, 
the  supreme  governor  of  the  Church,  authorized 
to  nominate  all  bishops,  and  to  correct  all  heresies. 
All  those  who  held  benefices  or  ofiices  were 
required  to  take  the  Oath  of  Supremacy,  avow- 
ing the  queen  to  be  the  only  supreme  governor 
within  the  realm,  "  as  well  in  all  spiritual  and 
ecclesiastical  causes  and  things  as  temporal." 
It  was  provided  by  the  Act  of  Uniform-  The  Act  of 
ity  that  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  ^^^^^ty. 
should  be  used  in  all  public  religious  services, 
and  that  any  minister  who  should  refuse  to  use 
it,  or  who  should  use  any  other  rites  and  forms 
than  those  therein  set  down,  should  forfeit  his  sal- 
ary for  one  year,  and  be  imprisoned  for  six  months ; 
and  that  for  the  second  offence  he  should  lose 
his  benefice,  and  be  imprisoned  for  a  year;  and 
for  the  third,  he  should  be  imprisoned  for  life.^ 
Persons  not  in  orders  who  should  thus  offend, 
were  to  be  punished  with  equal  severity.  The 
ceremonies  of  the  Church,  and  the  dress  of  the 
clergy,  were  to  be  as  in  the  time  of  King  Edward. 

1  I  Eliz.  cap.  I,  sect.  11. 


14      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

The  queen  only  had  power  to  make  changes  in 
these  matters. 

It  was  these  acts  which  really  formed  the 
Puritan  Party  in  England.  The  Puritans  were 
origin  of  the  those  who  wcrc  "for  carrying  the  Refor- 
puritans.  mation  to  its  logical  results."  There 
were  certain  things  among  the  forms  and  cere- 
monies of  the  Established  Church  to  which  they 
could  not  conform  with  good  consciences.  The 
fires  of  Smithfield  had  intensified  the  Protest- 
antism of  the  English  people.  The  exiles  who 
came  back  from  the  continent  were  full  of  admi- 
ration for  the  simplicity  of  Protestant  worship 
abroad.  "  Protestantism,"  says  Mr.  J.  R.  Green, 
"  had  become  a  fiercer  thing ;  and  was  pouring 
back  from  Geneva  with  dreams  of  revolutionary 
changes  in  Church  and  state."  Many  things  in 
the  ritual  of  the  Church  of  England  seemed  to 
them  to  favor  the  errors  and  superstitions  of  the 
Church  of  Rome.  The  contest  was  not,  at  that 
time,  in  respect  to  the  doctrines  of  the  Church, 
nor  in  respect  to  the  Episcopal  form  of  Govern- 
ment. It  related  to  forms  and  ceremonies  and 
vestments.  These  were  immaterial  in  themselves, 
and  yet  each  one  of  them  at  that  time  had  a 
doctrinal  significance.  We  have  seen,  in  our  own 
times,  something  of  the  intensity  of  ritualistic 
controversies.  But  in  that  age  such  matters 
touched  the  life  of  the  Church  much  more  closely. 


THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND.  1 5 

The  separation  from  Romanism  was  still  recent. 
The  majority  of  the  English  people  were  proba^ 
bly  Romanists  when  Elizabeth  ascended  the 
throne.  The  Protestant  minority,  however,  in- 
cluded the  ablest  and  most  powerful  men  in  the 
kingdom,  and  they  were  not  in  a  mood  to  accept, 
under  a  Protestant  queen,  any  modes  of  worship, 
or  of  the  administration  of  the  Sacraments,  which 
were  suggestive  of  the  Real-presence  in  the  ele- 
ments at  the  Lord's  table,  or  of  a  superstitious 
regard  for  the  Cross,  or  of  any  of  the  practices 
of  the  old  Church  which  they  had  renounced. 
They  were  protesting  against  transubstantiation, 
when  they  refused  to  kneel  at  the  altar  to  receive 
the  elements  at  the  Supper.  They  objected  to  the 
use  of  the  sign  of  the  Cross  in  baptism,  and  the 
use  of  the  ring  in  marriage,  and  to  the  use  of 
clerical  vestments,  especially  to  the  use  of  the  cap 
and  the  surplice,  not  because  they  were  wrong 
in  themselves,  but  because  they  could  not  use 
them  without  seeming  to  sanction  opinions  which 
they  deemed  inconsistent  with  the  truth  which 
it  was  their  special  mission  to  defend.  New  and 
better  associations,  and  the  mellowing  influences 
of  time  have  made  these  things  quite  indifferent 
to  us  ;  but  it  is  not  difficult  to  understand  how 
significant  they  were  three  centuries  ago. 


1 6      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

V. 

In  the  early  years  of  Elizabeth  the  acts  of 
Supremacy  and  of  Uniformity  were  not  exe- 
cuted very  strictly.  They  were  put  in  force  first 
against  the  Roman  Catholics.  Under  their  pro- 
visions all  the  bishops  except  one  lost  their 
places.  The  Protestant  exiles  who  had  returned, 
were  welcomed  by  the  Church,  and  a  number  of 
them  were  appointed  to  the  vacant  bishoprics. 
Only  about  two  hundred  of  the  parish  priests  lost 
their  livings,  out  of  some  seven  or  eight  thou- 
sand. The  changes  were  generally  in  favor  of  the 
progress  of  the  Reformation  among  the  people. 

The  Act  of  Uniformity  was  administered  more 
strictly  as  the  years  went  by.  The  Court  of  High 
Commission,  under  the  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, was  clothed  with  ample  powers  for  carry- 
ing these  laws  into  effect.  About  the  year  1564, 
the  word  Puritan  began  to  be  used,  not  at  first 
as  a  term  of  reproach,  but  to  designate  those  who 
sought  the  purest  form  of  worship,  — "  religio 
purissima."  They  desired  to  remain  within  the 
Church ;  but  they  refused  to  conform  to  practices 
which  seemed  to  them  the  badges  of  Rome.  A 
large  proportion  of  the  clergy  of  the  Established 
Church  were  Puritans.  So  were  a  number  of 
the  bishops,  and  some  of  the  archbishops. 

In  1565,  the  Commission  sent  to   prison  the 


THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND. 


Dean  of  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  because  he  re- 
fused to  wear  the  required  vestments.  The  same 
year  all  the  clergymen  of  London  ThePuntans 
were  brought  before  the  Comm.ission,  Ecdesiasticai 
and  asked  to  promise  to  conform  to  all  commission, 
the  requirements  of  the  Prayer  Book.  Thirty- 
seven  out  of  ninety-eight  refused  to  give  the 
promise ;  and  they  were  suspended  from  the  min- 
istry, and  deprived  of  their  livings.  Miles  Cover- 
dale,  one  of  the  translators  of  the  Bible,  was 
deprived  of  his  parish  for  non-conformity,  in  the 
eighty-third  year  of  his  age.  John  Foxe,  the 
Puritan  author  of  the  Book  of  Martyrs,  also  re- 
fused to  conform ;  but  he  was  suffered  to  go  in 
peace,  on  account  of  his  great  reputation ;  and 
he  held  his  small  office  in  the  Church  until  his 
death.  When  the  Puritan  ministers  of  London 
were  driven  from  their  churches  in  1565,  their 
followers  held  meetings  in  private  houses,  and 
in  public  halls,  without  any  disorder,  and  listened 
to  the  Bible,  and  the  sermons  of  their  ministers. 
A  congregation  of  this  sort  was  arrested  by  the 
sheriff  in  1567.  The  only  charge  against  them 
was  that  they  were  worshipping  God  under  forms 
not  prescribed  by  law.  They  were  found  guilty 
of  this  offence,  and  a  large  number  of  them  were 
sent  to  prison  for  a  year.^     The  next   year  the 

1  Neal's  History  of  the  Puritans,  i.  io8;  Hallam,  i.  i86;  Camp- 
bell's Puritan  in  England,  Holland,  and  America,  i,  400-447- 

2 


1 8      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

Spanish  embassador,  writing  to  Philip,  said : 
"  Those  who  call  themselves  of  the  religio  puris- 
sima  go  on  increasing.  They  are  styled  Puritans, 
because  they  allow  no  ceremonies,  nor  any  forms 
save  those  which  are  authorized  by  the  bare 
letter  of  the  gospel.  They  will  not  come  to  the 
churches  which  are  used  by  the  rest,  nor  will 
they  allow  their  ministers  to  wear  any  marked  or 
separate  dress.  Some  of  them  have  been  taken 
up  ;  but  they  have  no  fear  of  prison."  ^ 

The  work  of  silencing  the  Puritans  went  on 
from  year  to  year,  with  increasing  severity ;  and 
yet  they  still  clung  to  the  Protestant  Church  of 
the  realm,  and  tried  to  do  their  work  under  its 
shadow.  When  they  were  expelled  from  their 
livings  for  non-conformity,  they  obtained  employ- 
ment as  preachers  for  the  regular  incumbents, 
who  were  too  ignorant  or  too  indolent  to  preach 
themselves,  or  they  took  refuge  in  the  families 
of  the  gentry,  where  they  found  a  useful  employ- 
ment as  teachers.  Their  books  were  suppressed  ; 
their  private  meetings  were  broken  up ;  and  even 
private  citizens  were  brought  before  the  High 
Commission,  and  punished  for  non-conformit3^ 

In  1583,  Whitgift,  whom  the  queen  used  to 
call  her  "  little  black  parson,"  was  appointed 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  that  he  might  "  root 
out  Puritanism  and  the  favorers  thereof."     The 

1  Froude,  ix.  327. 


THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND.  IQ 

next  month  after  his  appointment,  he  issued 
orders  for  the  enforcement  of  religious  discipline 
throughout  the  realm.  Two  months  later,  the 
court  of  High  Commission  was  made  a  perma- 
nent institution  to  enforce  the  acts  of  Uniformity. 
This  court  was  continued  for  fifty  years.  Whit- 
gift  issued  orders  forbidding  all  preaching,  read- 
ing, or  catechising  in  private  houses.  This  was 
intended  to  prevent  the  assembling  of  neighbors 
to  read  the  Bible,  or  for  any  religious  service. 
It  was  also  provided  that  no  one  should  assume 
the  functions  of  a  clergyman  unless  he  had  been 
admitted  to  holy  orders  in  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land. All  clergymen  were  required  to  subscribe 
a  declaration  of  approval  of  the  Thirty-nine  Arti- 
cles, and  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  as 
containing  nothing  contrary  to  the  Word  of 
God ;  and  also  a  promise  to  use  its  forms  of 
prayer,  and  no  other.  These  requirements  went 
beyond  the  laws,  but  they  were  enforced  with 
unsparing  vigor.  Several  hundred  of  the  best 
ministers  in  England  were  silenced,  and  their  par- 
ishes were  left  destitute.  It  was  a  short  matter: 
Do  you  wear  the  surplice  ?  Do  you  make  the  sign 
of  the  Cross  in  baptism,  and  use  the  ring  in 
marriage,  and  require  communicants  to  kneel 
when  they  receive  the  Communion  1  If  not,  you 
must  cease  to  preach,  and  give  up  your  salary. 
No  witnesses  were  necessary.     The  accused  was 


20      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


put  under  oath,  and  required  to  criminate  him- 
self. The  methods  of  the  High  Commission 
under  Whitgift  were  as  relentless  and  as  unscru- 
pulous as  those  of  the  Inquisition. 


VI. 

These  extreme  measures  were  for  a  time  suc- 
cessful. A  uniformity  of  worship  was  brought 
about.  The  Puritan  ministers,  whose  non- 
conformity had  sometimes  been  winked  at,  were 
now  driven  from  their  pulpits.  The  press  was 
placed  under  a  strict  censorship.  No  book  could 
be  printed  except  with  the  approval  of  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  or  the  Bishop  of  London. 
No  printing-presses  were  allowed  in  any  part  of 
England  outside  London,  except  one  in  each  of 
the  Universities.  This  was  the  decree  of  the 
Star  Chamber,  issued  at  the  instigation  of  the 
Archbishop.  The  effect  of  all  this  was  to  deepen 
the  convictions  of  the  Puritans,  and  increase 
their  influence  in  the  country.  More  and  more 
the  attention  of  the  people  was  directed  to  the 
Bible.  It  was  read  everywhere.  It  became  the 
one  book  with  which  every  Englishman  was 
familiar.  It  colored  the  common  speech  of  the 
people.  The  old  Prophets  lived  again  as  God's 
messengers  to  their  nation ;  the  imagery  of 
the  Bible  moulded  their  common  speech.     This 


THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND.  21 

familiarity  with  the  Bible  gave  the  people  a  more 
serious  spirit,  and  a  higher  view  of  the  meaning 
of  life.  "  Theology  rules  here,"  said  a  discrimi- 
nating foreign  observer,  in  London,  in  one  of  the 
later  years  of  Elizabeth.  The  pressure  brought 
to  bear  by  the  High  Commission  set  everybody 
to  reading  religious  books.  A  multitude  of  such 
books  and  pamphlets,  printed  on  the  continent, 
found  their  way  across  the  Channel,  and  were 
eagerly  read.  For  a  long  time  the  great  subjects 
of  discussion  in  England  related  to  the  Church 
and  its  modes  of  worship. 


VII. 

One  result  of  the  arbitrary  measures  of  the 
High  Commission  was  the  division  of  the  Puri- 
tans into  two  sections.  The  larger  ihewon- 
number  of  the  Puritans  continued  to  Conformists, 
be  simply  Non-Conformists.  They  claimed  their 
rights  as  Protestants  in  the  Church  of  England, 
but  refused  to  conform  to  certain  of  its  require- 
ments. The  Separatists,  however,  renounced 
their  connection  with  the  National  Church,  and 
formed  themselves  into  independent  churches, 
with  the  simplest  possible  organization,  and  a 
plain  and  simple  form  of  worship.  They  were 
the  people  who  insisted  upon  "  reformation  with- 
out tarrying  for  any."     From  them  have  sprung 


22      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

the  great  body  of  dissenting  churches  in  Great 
Britain,  and  the  Independent  and  Congregational 
churches  in  America. 

It  is  not  easy  to  tell  where  Separatism  had  its 
beginning.  As  early  as  the  time  of  Queen  Mary, 
there  were  small  companies  of  Christians  who 
Origin  of  the  wcrc  accustomed  to  meet  in  private 
Separatists.  places  for  religious  services,  and  who 
disowned  the  Established  Church.  All  through 
the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  there  were  such  gather- 
ings in  London,  and  in  northern  and  eastern 
England.  The  first  organized  Separatist  Church 
of  which  we  have  any  definite  account  was  formed 
in  Norwich,  about  the  year  1580,  by  Robert 
Browne,  a  graduate  of  Cambridge,  and  a  relative 
of  Lord  Burghley,  a  favorite  Minister  of  Queen 
Elizabeth.  From  him  the  Separatists  received 
the  name  of  Brownists.  He  published  a  number 
of  books  which  were  widely  read,  in  which  he 
set  forth  his  views  in  regard  to  the  constitution 
of  a  Christian  church,  and  also  in  regard  to  the 
relation  of  the  state  to  the  Church. 

He  held  that  the  state,  as  such,  has  no  ecclesi- 
astical authority  at  all :  so  that  the  Church  should 
viewsof  \\2is[^  no  connection  with  the  state  ex- 

Robert Browne,  ^gp^  such  as  grows  out  of  its  sccular 
relations.  He  believed  that  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land had  become  so  corrupt  that  it  was  impos- 
sible  to  secure   discipline  within   it.     Not  only 


THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND.  23 

the  most  worldly  people,  but  those  whose  lives 
were  scandalous,  had  a  legal  right  to  partake  of 
the  Lord's  Supper,  side  by  side  with  the  very 
elect  and  anointed  of  God.  It  was  therefore 
the  duty  of  true  Christians  to  separate  from  that 
Church,  and  to  follow  Christ  elsewhere. 

In  respect  to  the  Constitution  of  the  Church 
itself,  Browne  held  these  principles :  — 

First :  That  any  company  of  Christians  who 
covenant  with  God  and  with  each  other  to  walk 
according  to  the  teachings  of  Christ,  and  to  en- 
gage in  His  service,  and  His  worship,  and  who 
observe  the  Sacraments,  is  a  true  Church,  and 
is  independent  of  all  control  but  that  of  the  divine 
Head  of  the  Church.^ 

Second  :  The  government  of  the  Church  rests 
with  Christ  in  the  first  instance,  and  through 
Him  it  comes  to  the  members  of  the  Church,  as 
His  disciples  united  in  His  name.  "  The  Church 
government,"  Browne  says,  "  is  the  Lordship  of 
Christ,  in  the  Communion  of  His  offices,  whereby 
His  people  obey  His  will,  and  have  mutual  use 
of  their  gifts  and  callings  to  further  their  godli- 
ness and  welfare."  So  that  the  members  of  the 
Church  are  to  decide  all  questions  which  properly 
come  before  it,  subject  only  to  the  authority  of 
Christ. 

Third  :  The  officers  of  a  church  are  the  pastor, 

1  Treatise  on  Reformation  without  tarrying  for  any. 


24      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


and  the  teacher,  who  are  to  teach  the  Word,  and 
exhort  to  good  works,  and  true  obedience  ;  and 
one  or  more  elders,  "  for  oversight  and  counsel, 
and  redressing  things  amiss  ; "  and  one  or  more 
deacons,  or  deaconesses,  to  care  for  the  secular 
matters  of  the  church,  and  to  visit  the  sick,  and 
the  afflicted,  and  to  relieve  the  wants  of  the  poor. 

These  principles  seem  harmless  enough  at 
this  day,  but  at  that  time  they  were  regarded  as 
"strange  and  dangerous  doctrines."  The  min- 
ister was  arrested  and  imprisoned  for  preaching 
them.  The  little  church  in  Norwich  which  ac- 
cepted these  principles  was  compelled  to  leave 
the  country,  in  order  to  find  a  place  where  it 
would  be  free  to  worship  according  to  this  way. 
Robert  Browne  was  in  prison  thirty-two  times 
in  the  course  of  the  next  six  years.  Some  of 
the  dunofeons  in  which  he  was  confined  were 
so  dark  that  he  could  not  see  his  hand  at 
midday.  He  was  only  safe  from  arrest  when 
he  was  outside  the  kingdom.  At  length,  worn 
out  by  persecution,  broken  in  mind  as  well  as 
in  body,  he  gave  up  the  contest,  returned  to 
the  Established  Church,  and  accepted  a  small 
parish  where  he  spent  the  later  years  of  his  life 
in  peace  and  obscurity.^ 

About  the  year  1587,  we  find  traces  of  con- 
gregations of  Separatists  in  London.     They  met 

1  Dr.  H.  M.  Dexter,  on  Congregationalism,  1 16-128. 


THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND.  2$ 

sometimes  in  private  houses,  and  sometimes  in 
the  fields  outside  the  city.  At  these  meetings 
they  used  to  read  and  expound  the 
Scriptures,  and  to  pray.  The  officers  churches  in 
were  always  in  quest  of  them,  for  such  ^°'^*^°"- 
services  were  contrary  to  the  Act  of  Uniformity. 
As  many  as  sixty  persons  were  sometimes  present 
at  these  meetings,  while  a  much  larger  number 
were  interested  in  them.  So  many  were  impris- 
oned, that  at  some  seasons  the  number  in  attend- 
ance was  less  than  twenty.  Sometimes  they  were 
nearly  all  in  prison  at  once,  and  then  they  would 
hold  their  religious  services  in  the  prison.  Fifty- 
nine  of  them  were  incarcerated  in  the  various 
prisons  of  London  at  one  time.  Some  of  these 
prisoners  were  kept  in  irons.  Some  were  with- 
out proper  food.  A  list  has  been  preserved  of 
twenty-five  who  died  in  prison  ;  twenty  of  these 
were  men,  and  five  were  women.^ 

Governor  Bradford  states  in  his  history  that 
at  least  six  of  the  Separatists  were  publicly  exe- 
cuted for  their  non-conformity.^  These  were  John 
Coppin,  William  Dennis,  Elias  Thacker,  Henry 
Barrowe,  John  Greenwood,  and  John   Penry. 

Of  the  three  whose  names  are  first  in  the  list, 
little  is  known  except  that  they  were  publicly 
executed   as    Separatists,    after   long   periods   of 

1  A  true  Confession,  et  cetera —  1596,  quoted  by  Dr.  Dexter. 

2  Bradford's  History. 


26      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


imprisonment.  Coppin  and  Thacker  were  tried 
for  selling  the  books  of  Robert  Browne,  and  for 
heresy.  Thacker  was  hanged  at  St.  Edmunds 
in  Suffolk,  June  4,  1583,  and  Coppin  on  the 
following  day.  The  moral  effect  was  heightened 
—  so  the  Chief  Justice  wrote  —  by  the  fact  that 
about  forty  of  the  books  of  Browne  and  Harrison 
were  burned  at  the  same  time. 

Of  the  three  others  we  have  fuller  accounts, 

which   they  prepared   before  they   were    put   to 

death.     Henry  Barrowe  was  arrested  in 

Trials  of  -^  .  . 

Barrowe  and   Novcmber,  1 586,  and  was  kept  m  prison 

Greenwood.      ^^^    ^^^^^    ^^    ^^^^    ^.^^    ^^^    about    SCVCn 

years.  He  was  a  graduate  of  Cambridge,  and  a 
member  of  Gray's  Inn.  While  in  prison  he  pub- 
lished a  number  of  books,  in  which  he  set  forth 
his  opinions  in  regard  to  the  Church  of  England. 
He  was  finally  condemned  to  death  for  publish- 
ing seditious  books.  He  was  reprieved  by  the 
queen  the  next  day;  and  efforts  were  made  to 
induce  him  to  retract.  It  was  in  vain,  and,  after 
being  a  second  time  reprieved,  he  was  hanged  at 
Tyburn  the  6th  of  April,  1593. 

His  friend  and  fellow  prisoner,  John  Green- 
wood, was  also  a  graduate  from  Cambridge,  and 
a  clergyman  of  the  Church  of  England.  He 
had  scruples  in  respect  to  his  connection  with 
that  Church,  and  finally  withdrew  from  it  and 
joined  the  Separatists.     He  was  arrested  in  1586, 


THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND.  2/ 

for  holding  a  private  religious  meeting  at  the 
house  of  Henry  Martyn  in  London.  After  six 
years  in  prison,  he  was  released,  and  returned  to 
the  meetings  of  his  old  friends,  the  Separatists. 
He  was  again  imprisoned,  and,  in  1593,  was  tried 
for  publishing  seditious  books.  He  was  found 
guilty,  and  was  sentenced  to  death.  On  the  6th 
of  April,  1593,  he  was  hanged  at  Tyburn,  with 
his  friend  Barrowe. 

John  Penry  was  born  in  Wales,  took  his  de- 
gree of  B.  A.  at  Cambridge,  and  that  of  M.  A. 
at    Oxford.       He    took  orders   in  the 

John  Penry. 

Episcopal  Church,  and  preached  both 
at  Oxford  and  at  Cambridge.  He  also  became 
a  Separatist,  and  was  committed  to  prison.  He 
was  kept  on  bread  and  water,  although  his  wife 
asked  permission  to  provide  him  something 
better,  pleading  that  he  was  "a  very  weak  and 
sickly  man."  It  was  not  easy  to  find  any  pre- 
tense for  condemning  him,  because  he  had  not 
published  any  books  since  he  became  a  Sepa- 
ratist. But  his  private  papers  were  seized,  and 
among  them  was  found  the  first  draught  of  a 
petition  to  the  queen.  It  had  not  been  fin- 
ished, or  published.  He  protested  that  this  writ- 
ing was  a  part  of  his  private  diary,  and  that  no 
creature  under  heaven  knew  of  it  except  himself, 
until  it  was  seized  by  the  officers.  But  he  was 
brought  to  trial  for  "  speaking  and  writing  against 


28      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

the  queen,  and  for  defaming  her  Majesty."  He 
was  found  guilty,  and  was  executed  at  St.  Thomas 
Waterings  in  Surrey,  May  29,  1593.  The  best 
use  that  EHzabeth  Tudor  had  for  these  honest 
and  independent  men  w^as  to  hang  them  by  the 
neck  until  they  were  dead.-^ 


VIII. 

The  Puritans  were  helpless  under  the  ar- 
bitrary power  of  the  State  Church;  but  they 
The  Martin  ^^^^^  made  their  appeal  to  public  opin- 
Mar-preiate      ion,  that  powcr  whicli  in  the  modern 

Tracts. 

world  is  stronger  than  princes  and 
hierarchies.  They  could  not  lawfully  own  print- 
ing-presses, or  print  books,  without  the  approval 
of  the  Archbishop.  But  a  new  turn  was  given 
to  the  controversy  by  the  sudden  appearance  of 
a  series  of  pamphlets  bearing  the  name  of  Martin 
Mar-prelate,  —  gentleman.  There  were  seven  of 
them  published  within  about  seven  months,  be- 
tween the  early  winter  of  1588,  and  midsummer 
1589.  It  has  been  said  that  the  Puritans  lacked 
a  sense  of  humor,  but  the  keen  wit  and  satire  of 
these  pamphlets  made  them  the  most  effective 
weapons  for  the  Non-Conformists.  The  pamphlets 
were  of  necessity  anonymous ;  and  the  secret  has 

^  Waddington's  Historical  Papers:  Congregational  Martyrs, 
173- 


THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND.  29 


been  so  well  kept  that  no  one  knows,  to  this  day, 
who  Martin  was.  The  press  on  which  they  were 
printed  was  concealed  in  private  houses,  and  car- 
ried from  place  to  place  in  a  cart  to  escape  the 
officers.  Four  of  the  pamphlets  were  printed 
upon  this  press.  When  at  last  it  was  seized, 
Martin  procured  another,  so  that  the  remaining 
pamphlets  were  printed  in  due  time.  A  royal 
proclamation  forbade  the  owning  or  reading  of 
these  tracts  :  but  the  students  of  the  Universities 
hid  them  in  the  folds  of  their  gowns  ;  even  the 
nobles  read  them ;  the  Earl  of  Essex  presented 
one  to  the  queen ;  and  all  England  was  laughing 
at  the  shrewd  and  audacious  attacks  upon  the 
prelates.  There  was  a  certain  coarseness  about 
them,  which  belonged  to  the  age,  but  there  was 
nothing  indecent  or  blasphemous.  "  Now  pre- 
lates," said  Martin,  assuming  an  easy  equality 
with  the  bishops,  "  I  give  you  more  counsel. 
Repent.  Give  over  your  lordly  callings.  Reform 
your  families  and  your  children.  Pray  her 
Majesty  to  forgive  you,  and  the  Lord  first  of  all 
to  put  away  your  sins.  Write  no  more  against 
the  cause  of  the  Reformation.  Punish  nobody  for 
refusing  to  wear  popish  garments,  or  for  omitting 
popish  corruptions  from  the  Prayer  Book,  or  for 
not  kneeling  at  the  Communion  table.  Study 
more  than  you  do,  and  preach  oftener.  Take 
no  more  bribes  :  leave  your  simony.     In  a  word, 


30      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

become  good  Christians.     Let  me  hear  no  more 
of  your  evil  doings." 

Vigorous  and  systematic  efforts  were  made  to 
break  the  force  of  these  attacks.  The  pohce 
force  was  ordered  to  spare  no  pains  to  discover 
and  arrest  the  author  of  them.  An  elaborate 
reply  to  Martin's  first  pamphlet  was  prepared  by 
one  of  the  bishops.  It  was  a  ponderous  quarto 
of  two  hundred  and  fifty-two  pages.  The  effect 
of  this  reply  was  to  add  to  the  importance  of  the 
pamphlet,  and  to  prepare  the  people  to  read  the 
second,  which  was  issued  a  few  weeks  later.  As 
the  other  pamphlets  of  the  series  appeared,  there 
were  other  replies.  The  bishops  quoted  Latin 
abundantly,  and  Martin  quoted  as  much  as  the 
bishops.  It  was  a  number  of  years  before  the 
echoes  of  the  discussion  died  away. 


IX. 

These  were  only  incidents  in  the  great  move- 
ment of  the  English  people  toward  a  thorough 
Growth  of  reformation.  It  was  not  hindered  by 
tiiTReiS'^f^  persecution.  It  had  been  growing 
Elizabeth.  stronger  all  through  the  reign  of 
Elizabeth;  and  when  she  died,  In  1603,  It  Is 
probable  that  the  majority  of  her  subjects  were 
of  the  Puritan  party.  The  people  were  gain- 
ing in   intelligence.      The  printing-press  was  a 


THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND.  3 1 

great  power,  though  it  was  not  yet  free.  The 
books  which  could  not  be  printed  in  England 
were  sent  abroad  for  publication,  and  when  they 
came  back  they  were  eagerly  read  by  the  people. 
For  the  first  time  in  English  history,  an  enlight- 
ened public  opinion  was  springing  up. 

One  cause  of  the  growth  of  Puritanism  was  the 
unfriendly  attitude  of  the  Catholic  powers  toward 
England.  The  Pope  called  upon  Elizabeth,  at  the 
beginning  of  her  reign,  to  submit  her  claims  to 
the  throne  to  his  tribunal.  After  she  had  declared 
herself  a  Protestant,  the  Pope  issued  his  bull  of 
excommunication,  deposing  the  queen,  and  re- 
leasing her  subjects  from  their  allegiance.  The 
Catholic  nobles  in  the  north  of  England  raised 
the  standard  of  rebellion.  There  were  a  number 
of  plots  to  assassinate  the  queen ;  and  these  plots 
were  traced  in  most  instances  to  Roman  Catholics. 
The  latest  of  these  plots  was  approved  by  Mary 
of  Scotland,  and  the  discovery  of  her  complicity 
in  this  plot  led  to  her  execution.  The  Spanish 
Armada,  which  sailed  in  July,  1588,  was  intended 
to  encourao^e  a  rebellion  of  the  Roman  Catholics 
of  England.  The  plan  had  the  approval  of  the 
Pope.^  Three  hundred  priests  were  sent  over  to 
organize  the  revolt.  They  circulated  a  book  which 
taught  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  people  to  take 
up  arms  at  the  bidding  of  the  Pope,  and  to  fight 

1  Green's  History,  vol.  ii.  439. 


32      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


for  the  Faith  against  the  queen  and  other  here- 
tics. The  Puritans  were  the  leaders  in  the  splen- 
did uprising  of  the  English  people,  of  all  faiths 
and  of  all  classes,  which  secured  the  defeat  of  the 
Armada.  It  is  not  surprising  that  since  that  day 
the  great  body  of  the  English  people,  have  re- 
garded Romanism  as  a  menace  to  the  very  exist- 
ence of  the  nation. 

The  sufferings  of  their  fellow  Protestants  on 
the  continent  added  to  the  intensity  of  feeling 
amons:  the  EnHish  Protestants.  The  Massacre 
on  St.  Bartholomew's  day,  in  1572,  by  which, 
according  to  the  most  conservative  writers,  more 
than  twenty-two  thousand  Protestants,  includ- 
ins:  women  and  children,  were  cut  off,  filled 
England  with  horror.  In  that  awful  hour,  says 
Mr.  Campbell,  the  Spanish  king  laughed  as  he 
had  never  laughed  before,  and  the  Pope  ordered 
a  special  Te  Deum  to  be  sung. 

Still  more  fearful  were  the  cruelties  of  which  the 
Spaniards  were  guilty  in  their  war  against  the 
Protestant  provinces  in  the  Netherlands.  The 
Duke  of  Alva  boasted,  at  the  time  of  his  departure 
from  the  Netherlands,  that  within  six  years  he 
had  executed  eighteen  thousand  six  hundred 
heretics  and  traitors.^  A  large  number  of  the 
Dutch    Protestants    found    refuge   in    England. 

1  Campbell's  Puritan  in  Holland,  England,  and  America,  vol.  i. 
212  and  488-490. 


THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND.  33 


They  settled  in  the  eastern  counties,  and  became 
permanent  citizens  there.  The  narratives  which 
these  refugees  gave  of  the  unspeakable  sufferings 
of  their  countrymen  under  the  tyranny  of  their 
Roman  Catholic  king  had  more  influence  in 
England  than  even  the  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholo- 
mew. Large  numbers  of  the  French  Huguenots 
also  settled  in  England.  The  story  of  the  suffer- 
ings of  the  Protestants  was  told  with  wonderful 
pathos  and  vividness  in  Foxes  Book  of  Martyrs. 
This  book  was  set  up  in  the  parish  churches  by 
order  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  was  read  by  the 
people  more  than  any  other  book  except  the 
English  Bible.  The  influence  of  these  Protestants 
from  the  continent  was  seen  in  the  marvellous 
vigor  of  the  Puritan  party  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  in  the  eastern  counties,  where  some 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  these  exiles  made  their 
homes.  It  is  well  known  that  the  first  settlers  of 
New  England  came  in  the  largest  numbers  from 
eastern  England. 

One  other  cause  of  the  spread  of  Puritanism  in 
the  later  years  of  Elizabeth  should  be  mentioned. 
England  and  Scotland  had  come  to  stand  almost 
alone  as  Protestant  powers.  The  hopes  of  the 
earlier  reformers  of  a  complete  purification  of  the 
Church  had  been  disappointed.  France  had 
seemed  at  one  time  likely  to  become  a  Protestant 
country;  but  the  Huguenots  had  been  driven  into 

3 


34      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

exile,  and  scattered  over  the  world.  The  United 
Provinces  had  been  trodden  under  the  heel  of  the 
oppressor.  A  part  of  them  had  accepted  the  rule 
of  Spain  ;  and  few  believed  that  the  heroic  struggle 
of  the  Dutch  Protestants  could  succeed.  In  Ger- 
many, the  Catholic  powers  were  steadily  gaining, 
and  the  Protestants  were  already  on  the  defensive. 
The  Thirty  Years  War  was  near  at  hand.  The 
cause  of  the  Reformation  seemed  to  depend  upon 
the  fidelity  of  the  English  people. 

This  was  the  urgent  reason  for  pushing  the 
Reformation  in  the  English  Church  to  its  logical 
results.  The  Established  Church  has  grown  out 
of  a  series  of  compromises  between  those  who 
still  favored  some  of  the  practices  of  the  Roman- 
ists, and  the  radical  reformers  who  had  adopted 
the  theology  and  the  polity  of  the  reformed 
churches  on  the  continent.  The  Puritans  held 
that  it  was  dangerous,  at  that  crisis,  to  halt  between 
two  opinions.  They  demanded  the  abolition  of 
Romish  ceremonies,  and  the  training  of  an  in- 
telligent ministry,  who  should  be  competent  to 
teach  the  people.  They  complained  that  a  large 
proportion  of  the  parish  priests  were  ignorant, 
and  of  scandalous  lives.  The  Puritans  of  the 
House  of  Commons  presented  an  address  to  the 
queen,  in  1571,  in  which  they  said  :  "  Great  num- 
bers are  admitted  to  the  ministry  that  are  infa- 
mous   in    their    lives,    so    that    the    Protestant 


THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND.  35 

religion  is  in  great  peril."  -^  Another  petition  com- 
plained that  the  ministers  who  were  competent 
had  been  silenced  for  non-conformity,  and  that 
such  as  were  left  were  unfit  for  the  office,  "  having 
been  either  popist  priests,  or  shiftless  men  thrust 
in  upon  the  ministry  when  they  know  not  how 
else  to  live,  —  serving-men,  and  the  basest  of 
all  sorts,  men  of  no  gifts.  So  they  are  of  no 
common  honesty,  rioters,  dicers,  drunkards,  and 
such  like,  of  offensive  lives."  The  Council  made 
an  examination  of  the  statements  contained  in  this 
petition,  and  they  reported  that  the  statements 
were  correct.^  With  such  a  state  of  things  within 
the  Church,  the  best  men  of  the  nation  made 
common  cause  with  the  Puritans  in  their  demand 
for  a  thorough  reformation.  "  Why,"  asked  Lord 
Bacon,  "  should  the  civil  state  be  purged  and  re- 
stored by  good  and  wholesome  laws,  made  every 
three  years,  in  Parliament  assembled,  devising 
remedies  as  fast  as  time  breweth  mischief,  and  the 
ecclesiastical  state  still  continue  upon  the  dregs  of 
time,  and  receive  no  alteration  these  forty-five 
years  or  more }  " 

X. 

Through  the  later  years  of  Elizabeth  the  Puri- 
tans had  waited,  in  the  hope  that  when  her  suc- 
cessor, James  the  First,  should  ascend  the  throne, 
the  way  would  be  open  for  the  reformation  of  the 

1  Campbell,  vol.  i.  466.  2  strype's  Whitgift,  167-168. 


36      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

Church.  James  had  hardly  crossed  the  border, 
on  his  way  to  London  for  his  coronation,  when 
The  Miuenaiy  ^^^  was  met  by  what  was  called  the  Mil- 
petition.  lenary  Petition,  with  the  signatures  of 

some  eight  hundred  of  the  English  clergy.  This 
contained  the  proposals  of  the  Puritan  ministers 
for  the  reformation  of  the  Church.  They  did 
not  ask  for  any  change  in  the  government  or  the 
oro^anization  of  the  Established  Church.  The 
great  body  of  the  Non-Conformists  would  have 
been  satisfied  to  continue  under  the  rule  of  bishops, 
and  to  use  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  in  wor- 
ship. The  proposals  which  have  been  recently 
made  by  the  Lambeth  Conference  for  the  union 
of  all  branches  of  the  Church  under  the  Historic 
Episcopate  would  have  been  entirely  satisfactory 
to  the  Puritans.  What  they  asked  was :  the 
Requests  of  the  omissiou  of  the  sign  of  the  Cross  in 
Puritans.  baptism,  of  the  ring  in  marriage,  of 
bowing  at  the  name  of  Jesus,  of  the  lessons 
from  the  Apocrypha  in  public  worship,  and 
the  omission  of  the  cap  and  surplice ;  that  the 
music  used  in  the  churches  be  made  plainer  and 
simpler ;  that  the  Lord's  day  be  hallowed ; 
that  none  be  made  ministers  who  were  unable  to 
preach  ;  that  candidates  for  the  Communion  be 
examined  as  to  their  fitness  ;  and  that  discipline 
be  attended  to  more  strictly.^ 

^  Gardner's  History  of  England  from  the  Accession  of  James  I., 
vol.  i.  163. 


THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND.  37 

These  proposals  were  certainly  moderate ;  the 
most  of  them  have  been  long  ago  adopted  by  the 
English  Church.  The  Petition  was  an  honest 
effort  at  comprehension  which  would  have  led  to 
important  results  if  it  had  been  welcomed  by  the 
king  and  the  bishops.  Lord  Bacon,  who  was  far 
from  being  a  Puritan,  sent  forth  at  that  time  a 
plea  that  things  which  are  not  essential  be  left 
"  to  the  holy  wisdom  and  spiritual  discretion  of 
the  master  builders  and  inferior  builders  in 
Christ's  Church."  He  advised  the  kinQ^  that  it 
would  be  proper  and  expedient  to  institute  such 
reforms  as  those  which  the  Puritans  had  asked 
for.i 

King  James  received  the  Millenary  Petition 
graciously,  and  promised  a  conference  of  bishops 
and  divines  in  which  it  should  be  discussed. 
Ten  months  later,  he  summoned  four  Puritan 
ministers  to  meet  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
and  eight  of  the  bishops,  and  seven  deans,  at 
Hampton  Court.  The  proposals  of  the  Puritans 
were  discussed  for  three  days  ;  the  King  himself, 
who  has  been  called  the  "  wisest  fool  in  Christ- 
endom," took  the  leading  part  in  the  discussion. 
One  suggestion  of  the  Puritan  divines  for  a  new 
translation  of  the  Bible  was  received  with  favor. 
This  was  afterwards  carried  out,  and  the  author- 

1  Bacon's  Works.     Montagu's  Edition,  vol.  ii.  420-430,  on  the 
Pacification  of  the  Church. 


38      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND, 

ized  version  of  1611  was  the  result.  But  the 
propositions  for  a  reform  in  the  Church  met  the 
decided  opposition  of  the  king  and  of  all  the 
bishops.  They  were  unwilling  that  any  matters 
of  form  or  ceremony  should  be  left  to  the  discre- 
tion of  the  clergyman  who  conducted  the  public 
services.  "  I  will  have  one  doctrine,  one  disci- 
pline, one  religion,  in  substance  and  in  cere- 
mony," said  King  James ;  "  I  will  make  them 
conform,  or  I  will  harry  them  out  of  the  land,  or 
else  worse."  The  aged  Archbishop  of  Canterbury 
exclaimed :  "  Undoubtedly  your  Majesty  spake 
by  the  special  assistance  of  God's  spirit."  And 
Bancroft,  the  Bishop  of  London,  fell  on  his  knees, 
and  said,  "  There  has  been  no  such  king  since 
Christ's  time."  Soon  after,  the  Convocation,  with 
the  approval  of  the  king,  passed  a  series  of  canons 
which  forbade,  on  penalty  of  excommunication, 
the  least  deviation  from  the  Prayer  Book,  or  any 
disparagement  of  the  established  system  of  gov- 
ernment and  worship  in  the  Church. 


XL 

The  Puritans  were  disappointed,  but  not  cast 
down.  They  had  hoped  for  favorable  changes 
from  the  new  king.  He  had  been  bred  a  Pres- 
byterian, and  a  Calvinist;  he  had  subscribed  to 
the    Solemn    League   and    Covenant,    and    had 


THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND.  39 

praised  the  Scottish  Church  as  the  "  sincerest 
in  the  world."  He  had  spoken,  while  in  Scot- 
land, of  the  Anglican  Service  as  "  an  evil  said 
Mass  in  English."  ^  They  had  hoped  that  one 
coming  from  another  Protestant  nation  would 
be  prepared  to  mediate  between  the  parties  in 
the  English  Church ;  and  they  expected  that  he 
would  receive  with  favor  the  proposals  for  union 
with  liberty,  and  mutual  charity.  The  grand  op- 
portunity of  uniting  English-speaking  Protestants 
in  one  Church,  with  one  way  of  worship,  was  lost, 
and  the  divisions,  which  have  lasted  till  our  own 
time,  have  resulted  from  the  mistakes  of  that 
critical  time. 

The  half  century,  that  followed  the  accession 
of  James  the  First,  was  the  great  age  of  Puritan- 
ism. The  contest  soon  passed  beyond  ecclesi- 
astical matters,  and  became  political  as  well  as 
religious.  The  king  opposed  his  prerogative 
to  the  Constitutional  rights  of  Parliament,  and 
of  the  people  of  England.  The  Puritans  took 
the  lead  in  this  contest  on  the  side  of  liberty  in 
the  state  as  well  as  in  the  Church. 

XII. 

The  causes  which  led  to  this  broadening  of 
the  questions  in  debate  are  not  far  to  seek.  The 
first  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  of  the  union  of 

1  Neal's  Puritans,  part  ii.  ch.  i. 


40      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


Church  and  state.  The  new  king  assumed  for 
himself  prerogatives  which  had  never  been  con- 
Reasons  of  ceded  by  the  English  people,  and  he  was 
^^^^rtS^of  supported  in  these  claims  by  the  prel- 
the  Contest,  atcs  of  the  Established  Church.  So  that 
the  Puritans,  in  their  contention  for  the  right  to 
worship  according  to  their  convictions,  found  the 
power  of  the  king  and  of  his  council  arrayed 
against  them.  The  character  of  the  new  king 
also  gave  a  new  turn  to  the  controversy.  Eliza- 
beth had  been  diplomatic,  if  not  always  sincere. 
She  knew  how  to  keep  in  touch  with  her  people, 
and  she  never  attempted  to  force  upon  them  a 
srreat  measure  to  which  they  were  op- 

Characterof        ^         j  ^1  ,  r    li 

James  the  poscd.  1  he  grcatucss  oi  the  queen 
^^^^'  was   shown    when    she    acknowledged 

her  mistakes  to  her  people,  and  adopted  the 
measures  which  they  called  for.  But  James 
never  understood  the  English  people.  He  al- 
lowed himself  to  drift  into  a  position  of  opposi- 
tion to  their  wishes.  He  was  as  obstinate  as  he 
was  wrono:-headed.  He  dissolved  one  Parliament 
after  another  because  the  Commons  insisted,  by 
a  very  large  majority,  upon  calling  for  a  redress 
of  grievances  before  voting  the  supplies.  He 
said  at  one  time, "  As  it  is  atheism  and  blasphemy 
to  dispute  what  God  can  do;  so  it  is  presump- 
tion and  a  high  contempt  in  a  subject  to  dispute 
what  a  king  can  do." 


THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND.  4 1 

The  position  which  the  clergy  of  the  Estab- 
lished Church  assumed  as  the  defenders  of  the 
royal  prerogative,  and  of  the  divine  right  of 
kings,  and  of  the  duty  of  passive  obedience, 
tended  to  give  a  political  character  to  The  Divine 
the  contest.  When  the  king  joined  Rig^^t  of  Kings, 
with  the  Church  in  setting  forth  these  arbitrary 
claims,  the  Puritans  were  led  by  the  logic  of 
events  to  take  the  lead  in  asserting  the  liberties 
of  the  people.  "  England  is  the  last  monarchy 
that  retains  her  liberties,"  said  Sir  Thomas 
Phillips  ;  "  let  them  not  perish  now." 

Another  reason  —  if  we  accept  the  views  of 
the  most  eminent  English  historians — was  their 
theological  system.  "  Logically  carried  caivinismand 
out,"  says  Mr.  Campbell,  "Calvinism  is  the  Rights  of 
democratic  in  its  teachings."  "  The 
meanest  peasant,"  says  Mr.  J.  R.  Green,  "  once 
called  of  God,  felt  within  him  a  strength  that 
was  stronger  than  the  might  of  kings.  In 
that  mighty  elevation  of  the  masses,  which  was 
embodied  in  the  Calvinistic  doctrines  of  election 
and  grace,  lay  the  germs  of  the  modern  princi- 
ples of  human  equality."  ^  Whether  we  accept  this 
theory  of  the  natural  tendency  of  the  system  of 
the  Genevan  reformer  or  not,  it  is  true  historically 
that  Calvinists  have  always  stood  for  the  rights 
of  the  people  in  opposition  to  arbitrary  power. 

^  Green,  vol.  iii.  45.    Campbell,  vol.  ii.  10-12.    See  also  Froude, 
Bancroft,  Fiske,  and  others. 


42      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

The  High  Church  party  began  at  this  time  to 
put  forth  claims  which  separated  them  further 
than  before  from  the  Non-Conformists. 
Right ^of^^  In  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  Prelacy  had 
Episcopacy,  i^ggj^  advocatcd  as  a  form  of  church  gov- 
ernment which  stood  upon  its  merits  as  a  useful 
and  ancient  polity.^  The  great  men  of  that  age 
never  denied  that  a  church  without  a  bishop 
mioht  be  a  true  church,  or  that  a  minister,  who 
had  not  received  Episcopal  ordination,  might  have 
a  true  and  valid  commission.  They  recognized 
the  Protestant  churches  on  the  continent  as  true 
churches.  In  repeated  instances  the  English 
Church  had  recognized  Presbyterian  ordination 
as  valid,  and  had  admitted  Presbyterian  ministers 
to  benefices  in  the  English  Church  without  re-or- 
dination. It  was  held  that  the  Prayer  Book  did 
not  require  such  re-ordination.  This  liberal  spirit 
of  fellowship  with  Protestant  churches  that  were 
not  Episcopal  was  very  grateful  to  the  Non-Con- 
formists. A  recent  writer  has  stated  that  the 
doctrine  of  Apostolical  Succession  was  not  to 
be  found  in  the  writings  of  the  Elizabethan 
divines  until  the  celebrated  sermon  of  Bishop 
Bancroft  was  preached,  in  the  year  of  the  des- 
truction of  the  Armada.^     A  more  conservative 

1  Macaulay,  vol.  i.  58,  59.      Green,    iii.  157,   158.      Campbell, 

ii.  367- 

2  Contemporary  Review,  November,  1892,  437.    See  also  articles 
in  The  Guardian  and  The  Church  Quarterly,  1890. 


THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND.  43 

statement  is  this:  that  the  great  divines  of  the 
time  of  Elizabeth  did  not  claim  that  ordination 
by  bishops  was  essential  to  a  valid  commission  as 
a  minister.  This  is  plainly  the  view  of  Hooker 
in  his  Ecclesiastical  Polity.-"-  The  broad  and 
generous  spirit  which  he  sought  to  impart  to  the 
Church,  would,  if  it  had  been  carried  out,  have 
prevented  the  division  of  Protestant  England  into 
two  hostile  camps. 

But  in  the  time  of  James  it  began  to  be  claimed, 
by  leading  clergymen,  that  Prelacy  was  essential 
to  the  existence  of  a  church,  or  the  validity  of 
Christian  ordinances.  "  They  claimed,"  says  Ma- 
caulay,  "a  celestial  origin  for  the  polity  of  the 
Episcopal  Church,  and  ascribed  a  new  dignity 
and  importance  to  her  services.  Some  practices 
which  had  been  long  disused,  and  which  were 
commonly  regarded  as  superstitious  mummeries, 
were  revived."^  In  the  time  of  Elizabeth,  for 
example,  the  Communion  table  had  stood  almost 
always  in  the  midst  of  the  church.  But  in  the 
time  of  Charles  the  First,  a  royal  decree  required 
its  removal  to  the  place  in  the  nave  of  the  church, 
which  it  had  occupied  before  the  Reformation. 
The  priests  wore  the  cap  and  the  surplice  during 
the  time  of  the  service ;  but  they  often  wore  the 

^  Ecclesiastical  Polity  vii.  ch.  xiv.  11.     Green,  vol.  iii.  31. 
2  Macaulay's    England,    vol.   i.  60.       Campbell,   vol.    ii.   222. 
Green,  vol.  iii.  16. 


44      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


Genevan  gown  in  the  pulpit.  In  the  chapel  of 
Lambeth  House,  the  stained  glass  was  removed 
from  the  windows,  in  order  that  there  might  be 
more  light  for  the  people  to  follow  the  lessons. 
The  Communion  table  was  moved  into  the  middle 
of  the  chapel,  the  credence  table  was  destroyed, 
the  cope  was  no  longer  used  as  a  special  vestment 
in  the  Communion,  and  the  archbishop  forbore  to 
bow  at  the  name  of  Jesus.  The  aspect  of  Eng- 
lish churches,  and  of  English  worship,  in  the 
reign  of  Elizabeth,  says  Mr.  Green,  "  tended  more 
and  more  to  the  model  of  Geneva."  But  under 
the  Stuarts  the  forms  of  worship  were  brought 
nearer  to  the  ritual  of  the  Church  of  Rome. 
Some  of  the  bishops,  and  a  large  number  of 
the  clergy,  advocated  the  doctrine  of  the  Real- 
presence  in  the  Sacrament,  and  the  practice  of 
auricular  confession,  and  of  praying  for  the 
dead. 

Last  of  all,  the  fact  that  the  Puritans  had  be- 
come a  leading  party  —  perhaps  a  majority  —  in 
the  kingdom,  led  them  to  make  questions  of  the 
reform  of  the  Church  the  leading  questions  in 
the  Parliamentary  debates.  They  were  entirely 
loyal  to  the  king ;  but  their  love  of  liberty,  in  the 
state  as  well  as  in  the  Church,  their  English 
pluck  and  stamina,  required  them  to  stand  for  the 
rights  of  the  people. 


THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND.  45 


XIII. 

So  it  came  to  pass  that  the  Puritans  became 
the  leading  defenders  of  constitutional  liberty  in 
the  time  of  the  Stuarts.  They  had  a  majority 
in  the  first  Parliament  of  James  the  First,  which 
met  in  1604.  The  first  act  of  the  House  The  First 
of  Commons  was  to  frame  bills  for  j^^sKrV 
the  redress  of  ecclesiastical  grievances.  ^^°'^* 
When  these  were  rejected  by  the  Lords,  at  the 
instigation  of  the  king  the  Commons  sent  a  very 
bold  address  to  the  king,  in  which  they  said, 
that  Parliament  had  come  together  in  the  spirit 
of  peace  ;  that  they  desired  to  put  an  end  to 
the  dissension  among  the  ministers,  and  to  pre- 
serve uniformity  by  the  abandonment  of  a  few 
ceremonies  of  small  importance,  by  the  redress  of 
grievances,  and  by  training  a  preaching  ministry. 
They  said :  "  Let  your  Majesty  be  pleased  to 
receive  from  your  Commons  in  Parliament  infor- 
mation as  well  of  the  abuses  in  the  Church,  as  in 
the  civil  state  and  government."  "  Your  Majesty 
would  be  misinformed,  if  any  man  should  deliver 
that  the  kings  of  England  have  any  absolute 
power  in  themselves,  either  to  alter  religion,  or  to 
make  any  laws  concerning  the  same,  otherwise 
than  by  consent  of  Parliament." 

The  king  did  not  profit  by  the  advice  of  the 


46      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

Commons,  and,  after  some  further  conferences,  the 
Parliament  was  adjourned.  The  High  Church 
party,  with  the  assent  of  the  king,  set  aside  the 
compromises  that  had  been  observed  in  the  time 
of  EHzabeth,  and  adopted  a  series  of  canons  which 
increased  the  pressure  upon  the  Non-Conformists. 
Three  hundred  ministers,  who  were  unable  to 
comply  with  the  new  demands  of  the  Convocation, 
were  driven  from  their  parishes  in  1605.  Ten 
men  who  had  presented  a  petition  for  reform,  were 
sent  to  prison,  because,  as  the  judges  said,  "  Such 
things  tend  to  sedition  and  rebellion."  The  Con- 
vocation formally  asserted  the  divine  right  of 
kings,  and  the  duty  of  passive  obedience.  Test 
oaths  were  imposed  upon  students  entering  the 
universities.  The  Convocation  denounced  as  a 
fatal  error  the  assertion  that  all  power  and  au- 
thority are  from  the  people.  In  accordance  with 
these  declarations  was  that  of  the  University  of 
Oxford,  that  it  is  never  lawful  for  subjects  to  take 
up  arms  against  their  princes. 

The  king  assumed  the  right  to  levy  duties 
upon  certain  classes  of  goods  without  the  consent 
of  Parliament.  As  soon  as  Parliament  came  to- 
gether, they  asserted  their  right  to  determine  what 
impositions  should  be  made.  They  also  asked 
that  the  ministers  who  had  been  silenced  should 
be  permitted  to  preach  ;  and  that  the  jurisdiction 
of  Ecclesiastical  Courts  should  be  regulated  by 


THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND.  47 

law.     The  king  insisted  upon  his  prerogative,  and 
in  161 1  dissolved  his  first  Parliament. 

For  three  years,  he  tried  the  experiment  of  gov- 
erning without  a  Parliament,  while  the  people 
were  srradually  cominsj  to  the  point  of 

.  .      ^  .  ,  ,  .  .       The  Second 

governmg  the  state  without  a  kmg.  "A  paruament, 
people  may  be  without  a  king,"  said  a  ^^^'*' 
leading  member  of  Parliament,  "  but  a  king  cannot 
be  without  a  people."  In  1614,  he  convened  his 
second  Parliament.  In  this  body  the  great  Parlia- 
mentary leaders  appeared,  for  the  first  time, — John 
Pym,  Sir  John  Eliot,  and  Thomas  Wentworth. 
This  Parliament  refused  to  vote  supplies  until 
they  had  attended  to  the  public  grievances.  They 
fixed  upon  the  abuses  of  the  Church  as  the  first 
grievance  to  be  redressed.  The  king  dissolved  this 
Parliament  after  a  session  of  only  two  months. 

For  the  next  seven  years  no  Parliament  was 
summoned.  The  king  attempted  to  raise  money 
by  loans  and  benevolences.  He  sent  letters  to  the 
wealthy  land-owners,  asking  for  money  to  meet  the 
expenses  of  the  government;  but  the  letters  were 
not  answered.  In  three  years  only  sixty  thousand 
pounds  were  raised.  The  judges  were  appealed  to, 
but  in  vain.  The  Chief  Justice,  Sir  Edward  Coke, 
told  the  king  that  the  laws  of  England  were  the 
supreme  rule,  and  that  when  any  cause  came  be- 
fore him  he  should  act  as  it  became  a  judge  to 
act.  He  was  dismissed  from  his  office ;  but  this 
only  increased  the  difficulties  of  the  king. 


48      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


In  162 1,  a  third  Parliament  was  convened.    The 
kino-  forbade  them  to  discuss  matters  of  state,  and 
threatened  to  commit  to  the  Tower  those 
pjiiament,       who  opposed  his  demands.     They  re- 
X62I.  plied,  that  the  rights  and  privileges  of 

Parliament  are  the  birthright  of  the  English  peo- 
ple ;  that  the  making  of  laws  and  the  redress 
of  grievances  are  proper  subjects  of  debate  in  Par- 
liament ;  and  that  every  member  has,  and  of  right 
ought  to  have,  freedom  of  speech.  The  king,  in 
his  raQ:e,  sent  for  the  Journals  of  the  House,  and 
tore  out  the  pages  which  contained  the  record  of 
this  protestation,  and  dissolved  the  Par- 

The  Fourth  ^ 

Parliament,  liamcnt.  Three  years  later,  he  called 
^^'  his  fourth  and  last  Parliament,  which 

proved  to  be  as  fearless  and  as  far-sighted  as  those 
that  had  gone  before.  The  next  year,  the  king 
died,  having  failed  in  all  his  plans  to  check  the 
rising  spirit  of  liberty  in  the  nation. 

The  great  leaders  during  this  reign  were 
Hampden,  Pym,  Eliot,  Coke,  and  Selden.  They 
were  not  all  Puritans ;  but  they  were  agreed  in 
demanding  their  rights,  and  the  rights  of  the  peo- 
ple. The  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  in  the  later 
years  of  James,  was  Dr.  George  Abbott,  a  man  of 
gentle  spirit,  and  of  great  learning,  who  was  dis- 
posed to  favor  the  Puritans  so  far  as  he  could 
without  violatinor  the  laws  of  the  Church.  It  was 
commonly  believed  at  the  time  that  he  was  more 


THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND.  49 

than  half  a  Puritan.  His  name  stands  second 
among  the  translators  of  the  Bible.  In  his  time, 
the  service  in  Lambeth  Chapel  was  almost  as 
simple  as  that  in  Presbyterian  churches.  He  for- 
bade the  reading  of  the  proclamation  of  King 
James,  permitting  sports  and  pastimes  on  the 
Sabbath.  He  refused  to  license  the  publication 
of  a  sermon  in  which  the  king's  prerogative  was 
unduly  magnified;  he  tried  to  moderate  the 
severity  of  the  persecution  of  the  Non-Conformists, 
and  to  secure  a  compromise  between  the  parties. 
In  this  the  Archbishop  did  not  stand  alone  among 
those  who  were  devoted  to  the  Established  Church. 
There  was  a  large  minority  among  the  clergy,  as 
well  as  among  the  laity,  who,  while  they  did  not 
scruple  to  conform  to  the  ritual  of  the  Church, 
joined  heartily  with  the  Puritans  in  their  opposition 
to  the  arbitrary  measures  of  the  Stuarts,  and  in 
their  demand  for  liberty  in  the  Church.  It  was 
their  misfortune  that  they  were  overborne  by  the 
extreme  men  who  had  been  selected  to  fill  the 
more  prominent  positions  in  the  Church. 


XIV. 

It  was  during  the  reign  of  James  the  First  that 
the  settlement  of  New  England  was  begun.  The 
Pilgrim  Fathers,  and  the  Puritans,  who  laid  the 
foundations  of  these  States,  had  been  trained  for 


50      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

their  work  in  the  conflicts  that  were  going  on  in 
England  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  They  had  seen  thousands  of  the  Prot- 
estants of  France  and  of  the  Netherlands  driven 
into  exile,  and  they  were  becoming  accustomed 
to  the  thought  that  they  must  cross  the  sea,  and 
plant  a  New  England  in  the  New  World.  The 
The  Thirty  Thirty  Years  War  had  already  begun, 
Years  War.  ^ud  the  Parliament  and  people  of  Eng- 
land had  called  in  vain  upon  the  king  to  throw 
the  great  power  of  England  into  the  scale,  on  the 
side  of  the  struggling  Protestants.  But  James 
was  seeking  to  strengthen  his  dynasty  by  a  matri- 
monial alliance  with  Spain,  —  the  most  cruel  of 
the  persecutors  of  the  Protestants.  When  this 
plan  failed,  he  turned  to  France,  and  entered 
into  negotiations  for  the  marriage  of  his  eldest 
son  with  a  French  princess.  But  the  rumor 
of  it  awakened  the  opposition  of  the  Puritans. 
The  French  They  kucw  the  danger  of  introducing 
Alliance.  ^    Roman    Catholic    queen,   with    her 

French  attendants,  at  such  a  critical  time.  They 
also  resented  the  stipulations  —  to  which  the  king 
had  consented  —  of  relaxing  the  laws  against  the 
Romanists,  as  the  price  of  the  alliance,  because 
those  stipulations  would  furnish  a  pretext  to  a 
foreign  government  to  interfere  in  the  civil  affairs 
of  England.  They  foresaw  that  the  French  alli- 
ance would  bring  into  the  royal  family  influences 


THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND.  5 1 

that  would  weaken  the  hold  of  the  Reformation 
upon  the  nation.  In  fact,  the  prospects  of  the 
Protestant  Reformation  in  Europe  had  never  been 
so  dark  as  they  were  in  the  last  years  of  James 
the  First. 

XV. 

The  Pilgrim  Fathers,  who  began  the  settle- 
ment of  New  England  in  1620,  came  from  the 
northern  counties  of  England.  "  They  were  from 
several  villages,"  —  says  their  historian,  Governor 
Bradford, —  "some  in  Nottingham,  some  in  Lin- 
coln, and  some  in  Yorkshire,  where  they  bordered 
nearest  together."  A  number  of  zeal-  ThePiigrim 
ous  preachers  had  been  going  about  in  ^^thers,  i604. 
these  northern  hamlets,  teaching  the  people  from 
the  Word  of  God,  and  moving  them  to  reform 
their  lives.  We  are  not  told  who  these  preachers 
were,  but  their  success  was  so  great  that  there 
was  already  a  beginning  of  persecution.  These 
people  formed  themselves  into  two  Independent 
churches,  which  met  from  week  to  week  on  the 
Lord's  day  for  worship.  One  was  at  Gains- 
borough-upon-Trent,  which  had  as  its  minister 
John  Smith,  and  which  left  the  country  for 
Amsterdam,  under  stress  of  persecution,  in  1606. 
The  other  church,  in  which  we  are  especially 
interested,  was  at  Scrooby.  It  met  for  worship 
in  the  chapel  of  the  old  manor-house,  which  was 


52      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


at  that  time  under  the  control  of  Mr.  WilHam 
Brewster,  who  was  looking  after  the  mails  for  the 
o-overnment,  and  who  was  also  the  agent  for  the 
Archbishop  of  York,  for  the  care  of  the  manor- 
house.  The  place  was  described  as  a  "  mean 
townlet,"  and  it  is  hardly  more  than  that  to-day. 
The  ministers  of  this  church  were  Mr.  Richard 
Clipton  —  "a  grave  and  reverend  preacher  who 
had  done  much  good"  —  and  Mr.  John  Robin- 
son,—  "a  famous  and  worthy  man,"  a  graduate 
Tohn  ^^  Corpus-Christi,  in  Cambridge,  where 

Robinson.  \^Q  attained  a  Fellowship.  During  the 
four  years  from  1600  to  1604,  he  had  been  a 
teacher  or  lecturer  at  Norwich.  He  was  sus- 
pended by  the  Bishop  on  account  of  his  Puritan 
tendencies.  He  made  efforts  to  obtain  the  right 
to  preach  in  some  chapel,  or  to  secure  the  master- 
ship in  the  Hospital.  It  was  in  such  humble 
positions  as  these  that  many  of  the  ministers 
who  had  been  silenced  for  non-conformity  con- 
tinued to  preach.  But  Robinson  did  not  secure 
a  chapel  or  a  lectureship,  and  so  he  w^ent  into  the 
north  country,  where  he  found  the  two  Separa- 
tist churches.  They  were  already  enduring  per- 
secution. "  Some  were  taken  and  clapped  up  in 
prisons,  others  had  their  houses  beset,  and  watched 
night  and  day,  and  hardly  escaped  their  hands ; 
and  the  most  were  fain  to  fly,  and  leave  their 
livelihood.      Seeing    themselves    thus    molested, 


THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND.  53 


and  that  there  was  no  hope  of  their  continuance 
there,  by  a  joint  consent  they  resolved  to  go  into 
the  Low  Countries,  where  they  had  heard  was 
freedom  of  religion  for  all  men.  So,  after  they 
had  continued  together  about  a  year,  and  kept 
their  meetings  in  one  place  or  another,  exercising 
the  worship  of  God  amongst  themselves,  not- 
withstanding all  the  diligence  and  malice  of  their 
adversaries,  they,  seeing  they  could  no  longer 
continue  in  that  condition,  resolved  to  get  over 
into  Holland  as  they  could,  which  was  in  the 
year  1607  and   1608."  ^ 

These  religious  people  were  countrymen,  "  used 
to  a  plain  country  life  and  the  innocent  trade 
of  husbandry."  They  were  going  to  a  strange 
country  where  they  must  learn  a  new  language, 
and  get  their  living  they  knew  not  how ;  for  they 
were  not  acquainted  with  trades  nor  traffic. 
"But  their  desires  were  set  on  the  ^^^^^^^^, 
wavs    of    God,"    says    their  historian,  spirit  of  the 

■^  Pilgrims. 

"  and  to  enjoy  His  ordmances;  and  so 
they  trusted  His  providence.  But  they  found 
the  ports  and  havens  shut  against  them,  so  that 
although  they  could  not  stay,  yet  were  they  not 
permitted  to  go."  A  large  company  of  them 
purposed  to  sail  from  Boston  in  Lincolnshire; 
and  they  hired  a  ship  to  take  them  and  their 
goods  to   Holland.     But  when  they  had  gone  on 

1  Bradford's  History  of  Plymouth  Colony,  chap.  i. 


54      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

board,  the  master  of  the  ship  betrayed  them  to 
the  officers  who  were  watching  for  them.  They 
were  taken  back  to  the  town,  rifled  by  the  officers 
of  much  of  their  money  and  other  goods,  and  com- 
mitted to  prison.  After  a  month's  imprisonment, 
the  greater  part  were  set  at  liberty;  but  some  of 
the  principal  men  were  kept  in  prison.  In  the 
course  of  time  they  were  set  at  liberty,  and  this 
large  company  of  plain  people  managed  to  sub- 
sist through  the  winter.  It  is  not  easy  to  see  how, 
for  they  had  broken  up  their  homes,  and  sold 
their  property. 

In  the  spring  following,  they  made  another  at- 
tempt to  reach  Holland.  They  made  an  agree- 
ment with  a  Dutch  shipmaster  to  take  them  to 
Zealand.  At  the  appointed  time  the  women  and 
The  Departure  children  with  the  goods  were  sent  in 
forHouand.  ^  Small  bark,  and  the  men  were  to 
meet  them  by  land.  The  bark  arrived  one  day 
before  the  ship  came,  and  ran  aground  in  low 
water.  While  they  were  waiting  for  the  tide, 
the  ship  came,  and  took  on  board  a  boat-load 
of  the  men  who  were  on  the  shore.  Before  the 
others  could  get  to  the  ship,  a  company  of  armed 
men  with  officers  appeared  and  took  them  into 
custody,  with  the  women  and  children.  The 
Dutch  shipmaster,  seeing  that  the  most  of  his 
passengers  were  gone,  hoisted  sail  and  went  on 
his    voyage   with    such    passengers    as    he    had. 


THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND.  55 


"  Pitiful  it  was,"  says  Bradford,  "  to  see  the  heavy 
case  of  these  poor  women  in  their  distress :  what 
weeping  and  crying  on  every  side,  —  some  for 
their  husbands  that  were  carried  away  in  the 
ship;  others  not  knowing  what  should  become 
of  them  and  their  little  ones;  others  melted  in 
tears,  seeing  their  poor  little  ones  hanging  about 
them  crying  for  fear  and  quaking  with  cold. 
Being  thus  apprehended,  they  w^ere  hurried  from 
one  place  to  another,  and  from  one  justice  to 
another,  until  in  the  end  they  knew  not  what  to 
do  with  them.  For  to  imprison  so  many  helpless 
women  and  children  for  no  other  cause  but  that 
they  would  go  with  their  husbands,  seemed  to  be 
unreasonable,  and  all  would  cry  out  of  them:  and 
to  send  them  home  again  was  as  difficult,  for  they 
alleged  (as  the  truth  was)  they  had  no  homes  to 
go  to,  for  they  had  sold  or  otherwise  disposed  of 
their  houses  and  livings.  After  they  had  been 
in  these  troubles  a  good  while,  and  conveyed 
from  one  constable  to  another,  they  were  glad  to 
be  rid  of  them  upon  any  terms ;  though,  in  the 
mean  time,  the  poor  souls  endured  misery  enough. 
In  the  end  they  all  got  over,  some  at  one  time, 
and  some  at  another,  and  met  again  according 
to  their  desires,  with  no  small  rejoicing."  Mr. 
Robinson  and  Mr.  Brewster  and  the  other  lead- 
ing men  of  the  company  remained  in  England 
to  help   the  women  and  children,  so  that   they 


56      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

came  to  Holland  last.  The  whole  party  was 
gathered  in  Amsterdam.  Such  were  the  experi- 
ences of  these  plain  country  people  who  were 
fleeing  from  their  native  land  in  the  years  that 
followed  the  Hampden  Court  Conference.  By 
such  constancy  in  suffering  they  were  preparing 
for  the  great  mission,  which  was  to  come  to 
them  twelve  years  later,  —  to  lay  the  foundations 
for  a  new  Christian  Commonwealth  beyond  the 
sea. 

The  next  year  they  removed  to  Leyden,  "  a  fair 
and  beautiful  city,"  where  "  they  fell  into  such 
trades  and  employments  as  they  best  could,  and 
at  length  they  came  to  raise  a  competent  and 
comfortable  living  with  hard  and  continual  labor." 
Mr.  Robinson  was  duly  chosen  their  pastor,  and 
Mr.  Brewster  their  elder.  "And  so  they  grew  In 
knowledge  and  other  gifts  and  graces  of  the  Spirit 
of  God,  and  lived  together  in  peace  and  love  and 
holiness.  And  many  came  unto  them  from  divers 
parts  of  England,  so  that  they  grew  to  be  a  great 
congregation."  That  "  fair  and  beautiful  city  " 
was  their  dwelling-place  for  about  twelve  years. 
Life  in  The  friendly  Dutch   people   saw  that 

Leyden.  ^.j^^y  ^verc  diligent  in  their  callings  ;  and 

they  gave  them  their  confidence  and  favor,  and 
strove  to  get  their  custom,  and  to  employ  them 
above  others  in  their  work,  on  account  of  their 
honesty  and  diligence.     The  magistrates  of  the 


THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND.  57 

city  gave  this  testimony  of  them  about  the  time 
of  their  coming  away  :  "  These  Enghsh  have 
lived  amongst  us  now  this  twelve  years,  and  yet 
we  have  never  had  any  suit  or  accusation  against 
any  of  them." 

In  due  time  it  became  plain  to  these  Godly 
people  that  it  was  expedient  for  them  to  make 
one  more  removal.  They  had  been  hospitably 
entertained  in  Holland,  and  had  enjoyed  liberty 
of  conscience  there.  They  had  continued  to 
worship  God  on  the  Lord's  day,  according  to  their 
simple  Cono-reofational  way,  no  man  for-  „ 

\  1  Reasons  for  the 

bidding  them.  But  that  was  not  their  removal  from 
country.  There  was  no  room  to  establish 
a  new  commonwealth.  Their  children  were  not 
likely  to  continue  to  use  the  English  language,  nor 
to  follow  the  customs  of  the  English  people.  They 
would  be  likely  to  become  mingled  with  the  people 
of  the  land  In  which  they  dwelt.  They  had  heard 
much  of  the  unpeopled  countries  of  America. 
They  had  a  "  great  hope  and  inward  zeal  of  laying 
some  good  foundations  for  the  propagating  and 
advancing  the  Gospel  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ 
in  those  remote  parts  of  the  world ;  yea,  though 
they  should  be  but  as  stepping-stones  unto  others 
for  preparing  of  so  great  a  work."  So,  with  much 
difficulty,  they  obtained  a  patent  from  the  Vir- 
ginia Company,  and  made  preparations  for  their 
voyage.     "  They  knew  they  were  Pilgrims,  and 


58      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

looked  not  much  on  those  things,  but  lifted  up 
their  eyes  to  Heaven,  their  dearest  country,  and 
quieted  their  spirits." 


XVI. 

It  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  chapter  to  follow 
them  in  their  voyage,  or  to  trace  the  history  of 
their  settlement  at  Plymouth,  but  only  to  show 
by  what  experiences  they  were  prepared  for  their 
great  mission.  *'  Through  scenes  of  gloom  and 
misery,"  says  Mr.  Bancroft,  "  the  Pilgrims  showed 
the  way  to  an  asylum  for  those  who  would  go  to 
the  wilderness  for  liberty  of  conscience.  Endur- 
ing every  hardship  themselves,  they  were  the  ser- 
vants of  posterity,  —  the  benefactors  of  succeeding 
generations."  "  Out  of  small  beginnings,"  said 
Governor  Bradford,  "great  things  have  been  pro- 
duced ;  and  as  one  small  candle  may  light  a  thou- 
sand, so  the  light  here  kindled  hath  shone  to  many, 
in  some  sort  to  our  whole  nation." 

The  lio^ht  did  shine.  There  is  abundant  evidence 
that  the  progress  of  that  small  colony,  which  went 
to  the  New  World  in  1620,  was  watched  with 
great  interest  by  the  Puritan  leaders  who  were 
en2:ag:ed  in  the  strusfSfle  for  civil  and  relio^ious 
liberty  in  England.  "  Let  it  not  be  grievous  to 
you,"  wrote  some  of  the  English  Puritans  to  the 
men  of  Plymouth,  "that  you  have  been  instru- 


THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND,  59 

mental  to  break  the  ice  for  others.     The  honor 
shall  be  yours  to  the  world's  end." 

The  Puritans  were  not  ready  to  leave  the  old 
country  when  the  Pilgrims  went,  be-  cuariestue 
cause  they  were  in  the  midst  of  the  con-  :^st,i62s. 
test  with  James  the  First.  When  Charles  became 
king,  in  1625,  there  were  strong  hopes  that  he 
would  profit  by  the  experience  of  his  father.  He 
had  been  popular  as  a  prince.  It  was  understood 
that  he  was  a  decided  Protestant,  and  that  counted 
for  a  great  deal.  It  was  believed  that  the  young 
king,  who  had  lived  so  long  among  the  English 
people,  would  regard  the  will  of  the  nation ;  for 
it  was  evident  that  England  was  becoming  more 
thoroughly  Puritan  every  year. 

But,  unfortunately,  the  Duke  of  Buckingham 
stood  nearest  to  the  king  as  his  friend  and  adviser, 
while  Bishop  Laud  was  his  chief  counsellor  in 
ecclesiastical  matters.  The  pulpits  of  the  Estab- 
lished Church  resounded  with  denunciations  of  the 
Non-Conformists,  and  with  the  assertion  of  the  doc- 
trine of  the  divine  right  of  kings,  and  of  the  duty 
of  passive  obedience.  Montague,  a  chaplain  at 
the  court,  advocated  the  doctrine  of  the  Real- 
presence  in  the  Sacrament.  Dr.  Mainwaring 
preached  before  the  king  that  there  was  no  need 
to  ask  the  consent  of  Parliament  for  the  imposi- 
tion of  taxes,  and  that  to  resist  the  will  of  the 
king  was  to  incur  eternal  damnation.     Both  these 


60     THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

clergymen  were  sent  to  prison  by  order  of  Parlia- 
ment for  their  public  utterances,  but  both  were 
set  at  liberty,  and  made  bishops  by  order  of  the 
king.  Charles  seemed  only  too  ready  to  adopt 
the  principles  which  the  High  Church  clergymen 
were  teaching.  In  May,  he  called  together  his  first 
Parliament,  and  asked  for  a  grant  of  supplies. 
They  voted  a  hundred  and  forty  thousand  pounds, 
and  then  proceeded  to  consider  the  public  griev- 
ances. The  leading  members  of  the  House  of 
Commons  had  learned  from  their  experiences 
under  James  that  the  most  effectual  check  upon 
the  arbitrary  power  of  the  king  was  the  control 
of  the  national  treasury.  They  determined  that 
no  grants  of  money  should  be  voted  except  upon 
condition  of  the  redress  of  grievances.  They  made 
the  customary  grant  of  the  duties  from  customs, 
but  limited  the  grant  to  a  single  year,  and  then 
proceeded  to  consider  the  complaints  of  the 
people.  "  They  saw,"  says  Mr.  Palfrey,  "  that  the 
time  had  come  to  determine  whether  the  English 
people  should  live  in  future  under  an  absolute  or 
under  a  limited  monarchy;  and  they  launched 
upon  the  course  of  measures  which  was  to  decide 
that  momentous  question."^ 

Charles  dissolved  three  Parliaments  within  four 
years.  He  committed  Sir  John  Eliot  to  the 
Tower  of  London  for  his  bold  words  in  defence 

1  Palfrey,  vol.  i.  265. 


THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND.  6 1 

of  the  rights  of  the  people.  The  House  of  Com- 
mons refused  to  go  on  with  the  pubUc  business 
until  he  was  set  at  liberty.  For  ten  sirjohn 
days  the  king  obstinately  refused  to  ^^^*' 
release  him.  He  finally  yielded  to  the  necessity 
that  was  upon  him,  but  soon  dissolved  the  Parlia- 
ment. After  the  dissolution,  Charles  attempted 
to  raise  money  by  forced  loans ;  but  the  people 
refused  to  give  anything  save  by  way  of  Parlia- 
ment. The  Chief  Justice  refused  to  recognize 
the  legality  of  the  taxes  imposed  by  the  author- 
ity of  the  king,  and  he  was  summarily  dismissed 
from  his  office.  John  Hampden  was  thrown  into 
prison,  because  he  refused  to  pay  money  that  was 
demanded  without  authority  of  law,  in  violation 
of  Magna  Charta.  The  third  Parliament,  which 
met  in  1628,  drew  up  the  famous  Petition  of 
Right,  to  which  they  asked  the  assent  petition  of 
of  the  king,  as  the  condition  of  the  ^^^^*- 
grant  of  money.  In  this  Petition  they  demanded 
that  no  taxes  be  hereafter  levied  without  the  con- 
sent of  Parliament ;  that  no  person  be  fined,  or 
imprisoned,  or  in  any  way  punished,  without  a 
trial ;  that  martial  law  in  time  of  peace,  and  the 
billeting  of  soldiers  upon  the  people,  be  discon- 
tinued ;  and  that  the  rights  and  liberties  of  the 
people,  according  to  the  laws  and  statutes  of  the 
realm,  be  recognized  by  all  the  officers  and  minis- 
ters of  the  king ;  and  especially  that  the  writ  of 


62      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

Habeas  Corpus  shall  not  be  denied  whenever  the 
law  allows  it.-^  To  this  Petition,  after  many 
evasions,  the  king  gave  his  assent  in  the  usual 
form  :  "  Let  right  be  done  as  is  desired."  The 
bill  for  subsidies  was  immediately  passed,  and 
the  bells  were  rung,  and  the  bonfires  were  lighted 
in  token  of  the  joy  of  the  people. 

But  the  faithless  king  had  no  intention  of  keep- 
ing the  promises  that  he  had  given.  Arbitrary 
arrests  were  still  made,  and  taxes  and  customs 
were  still  levied,  without  authority  of  law.  The 
House  of  Commons  refused  to  vote  further 
supplies  until  these  grievances  should  be  re- 
dressed ;  and  when  they  found  that  the  king  had 
determined  upon  a  dissolution,  they  declared,  by 
formal  resolutions,  that  whoever  should  bring  in 
innovations  in  religion,  or  should  levy  subsidies 
not  granted  in  Parliament,  is  a  capital  enemy  to 
Final  Decia-  the  kingdom,  and  every  subject  volun- 
p*^u"°ent  t^^^ly  complying  with  illegal  acts  and 
1629.  demands    is  a  betrayer  of  the  liberty 

of  England,  and  an  enemy  of  the  same. 

Thus  the  issue  was  joined  between  those  who 
stood  for  the  ancient  liberties  of  the  people,  and 
the  supporters  of  the  arbitrary  monarch.  As 
soon  as  Charles  had  dissolved  this  Parliament,  he 
entered  upon  that  course  of  tyranny  which,  after 
twelve  years,  led  to  the   Great  Rebellion.     For 

^  Neal's  History  of  the  Puritans,  vol.  i.   287,  N.  Y.  Edition. 


THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND.  63 

eleven  years,  he  governed  without  a  Parliament. 
The  leaders  of  the  Commons  in  the  last  Parlia- 
ment were  thrown  into  prison.  Sir  John  Eliot, 
the  boldest  of  the  patriotic  leaders,  was  subjected 
to  an  imprisonment  so  severe  that  he  The  Tyranny 
died  after  three  years.  Towards  the  ofcuanes. 
end  of  his  life,  the  king  was  asked  to  order  his 
release  for  a  time,  in  order  that  he  might  breathe 
the  fresh  air,  and  gain  some  respite  from  the 
attacks  of  disease.  But  he  refused  to  grant  even 
this  favor.  After  the  death  of  Sir  John,  his  son 
requested  permission  to  bury  him  in  his  native 
county ;  but  the  King  replied,  "  Let  Sir  John 
EHot's  body  be  buried  in  the  church  of  that 
parish  where  he  died,"  —  that  is,  in  the  prison. 
When  the  imprisoned  patriots  were  claimed  by 
a  writ  of  Habeas  Corpus,  the  Lieutenant  of  the 
Tower  was  forbidden  to  produce  his  prisoners  in 
court.  They  were  condemned  to  pay  heavy  fines, 
and  to  be  imprisoned  during  the  pleasure  of  the 
king.  Large  sums  of  money  were  secured  for 
the  Treasury  by  arbitrary  fines,  and  by  the  sale 
of  Monopolies,  which  had  been  prohibited  by 
law  since  the  time  of  Elizabeth.  The  customs 
duties  were  collected  without  authority  of  law. 
Those  who  protested  against  these  illegal  exac- 
tions were  ruined  by  excessive  fines.  Loans 
were  demanded  in  the  king's  name  from  the  free- 
holders in  every  shire.     By  such  means  as  these 


64      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

the  annual  revenue  was  raised  from  half  a  million 
to  eight  hundred  thousand  pounds  ;  and  some  of 
the  courtiers  expressed  the  hope  that  "  the  king 
would  never  need  any  more  Parliaments." 

While  the  king  was  carrying  out  his  plans  in 
the  government  of  England,  Bishop  Laud  was 
transforming  the  English  Church.  First,  he 
severed  the  ties  which  had  united  the  Reformed 
Churches  of  the  continent  with  the  Church  of 
England.  He  held  that  ordination  by  bishops 
was  essential  to  a  valid  ministry,  and  that  the 
Reformed  Churches  of  Switzerland  and  of 
Germany  were  not  true  Churches.  The  free- 
dom of  worship,  which  had  been  allowed  to  the 
Protestant  refugees  from  the  Low  Countries  and 
from  France,  was  withdrawn,  and  those  exiles 
were  required  to  conform  to  the  ritual  of  the 
Church  of  England,  or  to  flee  from  the  kingdom. 

In  1633,  Laud  became  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury. He  began  at  once  to  use  the  great  power 
of  the  court  of  High  Commission  to  reduce  the 
Puritan  ministers  to  submission.  The  offensive 
ceremonies  were  strictly  insisted  upon.  Every 
minister  who  refused  to  conform  to  them  was 
silenced.  The  lectureships  founded  in  towns, 
which  had  been  the  refuge  of  the  Puritan 
preachers  after  they  were  silenced,  were  sup- 
pressed by  the  Primate.  He  also  withdrew  the 
privilege   of    keeping   chaplains,    because    many 


THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND.  65 


wealthy  persons  in  the   country  had   appointed 
the  suspended  ministers  as  their  preachers.     The 
Puritans    had    been    buying    up   the   appropria- 
tions   of    livings   in   certain   parishes,  and   they 
attempted  to  secure,  through  feoffees,  the  right 
to  appoint  their  own   ministers   to  the  parishes 
of   which    they   were    patrons;     but   the    Arch- 
bishop, by  a  stretch   of   power,  put   an  end    to 
these  feoffments.     The  people  had  become  very 
fond    of    the    small    pocket    Bibles,    with    mar- 
ginal   notes,    which    had    been    imported    from 
Geneva;  but  these  marginal  notes  were  obnoxious 
to  the  Archbishop,  and   so   the    importation    of 
these  Bibles  was  prohibited.    Hundreds  of  laymen 
were  excommunicated  for  refusing  to  kneel  when 
they   received    the    Communion.     The    English 
people,  under  the  influence  of  the  Puritans,  had 
been  accustomed  to  keep  Sunday  very  strictly, 
as   they   do    to   this  day.      But  the  Archbishop 
ordered  every  minister  to  read  from  the  pulpit 
a  declaration  in  favor  of  Sunday  sports.     Large 
numbers    were    deprived    of    their   livings,    and 
silenced,  for  refusing  to  read  such  a  declaration. 
One  minister  read  the  declaration  to  his  people, 
and  then  read  the  Ten  Commandments,  and  said  : 
"  You   have   heard    the  commands    of  man,   and 
the  commands  of  God.    Obey  which  you  please." 
The    progress  toward    the   doctrines   and    the 
ceremonies  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  was 

5 


66      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

rapid.  It  was  this  that  touched  the  people  most 
deeply.  "  The  Gospel,"  said  Sir  John  Eliot,  "  is 
that  truth  in  which  this  kingdom  has  been  happy 
through  a  long  and  rare  prosperity."  "  Whenever 
mention  is  made  of  danger  to  religion,"  said 
another,  "and  of  the  increase  of  Popery,  their 
affections  are  much  stirred."  The  Archbishop 
was  not  a  Romanist ;  but  he  aimed  at  restoring 
the  pomp  and  splendor  of  Romanism  in  public 
worship,  and  at  bringing  the  Church  into  closer 
relations  with  Rome.  He  avowed  his  preference 
for  a  celibate  clergy.  Some  of  the  bishops  advo- 
cated auricular  confession,  and  prayers  for  the 
dead.  The  doctrines  of  the  Church  of  Rome 
were  preached  in  the  pulpits  from  which  the  most 
learned  and  devout  ministers  in  the  land  had 
Extreme  bccn  ejected.  Laud  was  backed  by  the 
tteTcr^  power  of  the  king,  who  was  determined 
bishop.  to  root  out  Puritanism  from  the  king- 

dom, while  the  prelates  were  preaching  passive 
obedience,  and  turning  religion  into  a  systematic 
attack  on  English  liberty.  In  the  pages  of  Neal, 
one  may  still  find  the  record  of  the  petty  perse- 
cution which  was  carried  into  the  most  distant 
and  obscure  parishes  of  the  kingdom.  Every 
minister  who  hesitated  to  conform  to  any  of  the 
requirements  of  the  Established  Church,  in  regard 
to  vestments,  or  ceremonies,  or  the  manner  of 
observing  Sunday,  was  pursued  with  unrelenting 


THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND.  6/ 

vigilance.  It  was  not  enough  to  deprive  him  of 
his  living.  He  must  not  preach  in  the  fields,  or 
in  a  private  house.  He  must  not  teach  a  school, 
or  take  private  pupils.  He  must  not  practise 
medicine,  or  engage  in  business.  He  was  liable 
to  arrest  for  his  non-conformity,  and  to  heavy  fines 
and  imprisonment.  Those  ministers  who  became 
the  first  pastors  of  the  churches  in  New  England, 
had  almost  all  of  them  been  silenced  for  non-con- 
formity. Several  of  them  had  been  imprisoned. 
Some  of  the  most  eminent  of  them  were  fleeing 
from  the  officers  w^hen  they  took  passage  for 
America. 

There  is  no  more  graphic  picture  of  the  con- 
dition of  England  at  that  time  than  the  few  lines 
of  "  Lycidas,"  one  of  the  early  poems  Milton's 
of  that  foremost  Englishman  of  his  age,  "lycidas." 
John  Milton.  In  his  tender  lament  at  the  too 
early  death  of  his  friend  Lycidas,  he  contrasts  his 
pure  and  beautiful  life  with  the  lives  of  those  who 

"  for  their  bellies'  sake, 
Creep,  and  intrude,  and  climb  into  the  fold. 
Of  other  care  they  little  reckoning  make, 
Than  how  to  scramble  at  the  shearer's  feast, 
And  shove  away  the  worthy  bidden  guest : 
Blind  mouths  !  that  scarce  themselves  know  how  to  hold 
A  sheep  hook." 
The  hungry  sheep  look  up,  and  are  not  fed ;  "  — 

while  the  "grim  wolf"  of  Rome, 


68      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

"  with  privy  paw, 
Daily  devours  apace,  and  nothing  said  : 
But  that  two-handed  engine  at  the  door 
Stands  ready  to  smite  once,  and  smite  no  more." 

Milton  says  of  himself,  that  when  he  came  to 
some  maturity  of  years,  he  perceived  "  that  tyr- 
anny had  invaded  the  Church,  and  that  he  who 
Milton's  Non-  would  take  orders  must  subscribe  slave, 
conformity.     ^^-^^   |-^].g    ^^  q^^]^   withal,"  SO  that  he 

thought  it  better  to  give  up  the  sacred  office, 
rather  than  to  obtain  it  by  "  servitude  and  for- 
swearing." Milton  was  but  one  of  many  of  the 
cultured  and  devout  young  men  from  the  univer- 
sities who  found  themselves  shut  out  from  the 
National  Church  by  its  lack  of  toleration. 

XVII. 

That  which  is  called  the  bigotry  of  the  Puri- 
tans was  the  result  of  such  experiences  as  these. 
Their  spirit  was  that  of  soldiers  in  an  enemy's 
country,  encompassed  by  adroit  and  treacherous 
enemies,  and  standing  for  their  rights  as  English- 
men and  Protestant  Christians.  It  may  be  that 
men  who  have  to  contend  with  such  kinofs 

The  Bigotry  ,       ^  ti     i  i 

of  the        as  the  Stuarts  are  likely  to  become  narrow. 

'^    ^'     In  the  conflict  for  the  right  to  worship 

according  to  their  consciences,  such  men  would 

be  likely  to  develop  the  sterner  virtues.     With  a 


THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND. 


69 


great  price,  they  obtained  the  freedom  which  we 
enjoy,  and  so  long  as  the  conflict  lasted,  they 
belonged  to  the  Church  militant.  That  which  we 
call  their  narrowness  was  the  result  of  their  vio-i- 
lance.  They  crossed  the  ocean  to  be  free  from 
the  power  of  the  prelates  and  of  Rome,  and  it  is 
not  surprising  that  they  claimed  the  right  to 
exclude  from  their  new  plantations  those  who 
seemed  to  them  to  be  unfriendly  to  their  great 
purpose.  We  who  have  entered  into  the  heritage 
which  they  gained,  have  little  right  to  judge  them 
by  the  standards  of  an  age  of  peace  and  luxury. 

XVIII. 

The  great  Puritan  migration  to  New  England 
began  in  the  darkest  hour  of  the  struggle  for  con- 
stitutional and  religious  liberty.  King  Charles 
had  determined  to  govern  without  a  Parliament,  in 
defiance  of  the  will  of  the  people.  There  seemed 
to  be  no  available  means  of  carrying  out  the  will 
of  the  people,  when  it  was  resisted  by  the  power 
of  the  king.  It  rested  with  him  to  summon  a 
Parliament  when  he  pleased,  and  he  could  dis- 
solve it  when  it  interfered  with  his  plans.  By  a 
careful  economy,  and  by  maintaining  peace  with 
foreign  powers,  Charles  had  reduced  the  expenses 
of  the  government  to  the  smallest  practicable 
sum,  and  this  he  succeeded  in  obtaining  by  means 


70      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

which  were  indeed  illegal,  but  which  it  was  not 
easy  to  interrupt.  The  judges  held  their  offices 
Meansofsus-  during  the  pleasure  of  the  king,  and, 
,g^y^^  in  many  instances,  they  became  sub- 
theKing.  servient  to  his  will.  The  moral  power 
of  the  Established  Church  was  used  by  the  Pri- 
mate to  sustain  the  personal  government. 

When  Charles  was  dissolving  his  third  Parlia- 
ment, he  granted  the  Charter  which  established  the 
The  Settle-  Colony  of  Massachusetts.  Men  thought 
ment  of  Mas-  they  saw  the  hand  of  Providence  pointins: 

sachusetts.  "^  ir  o 

them  to  the  lands  beyond  the  sea  as  the 
place  where  they  could  realize  their  ideal  of  a 
free  Church  in  a  free  state.  The  Puritans  did 
not  all  give  up  the  contest.  The  great  majority 
remained  to  continue  the  struggle  that  was  to 
result  in  the  overthrow  of  the  personal  govern- 
ment and  the  vindication  of  the  rights  of  the 
people.  It  is  an  interesting  fact,  however,  that  at 
one  time  even  John  Hampden  purchased  a  tract 
of  land  in  New  England,  with  a  view  to  leading 
a  colony  there.  There  is  a  tradition  that  Oliver 
Cromwell  was  only  prevented  from  going  by  a 
royal  embargo.  The  Puritan  Lord  Warwick 
bought  a  tract  of  land  in  the  Connecticut  valley, 
and  Lord  Saye  and  Sele  and  Lord  Brooke  at  one 
time  expected  to  transport  themselves  to  Massa- 
chusetts. It  was  better,  however,  that  these  lead- 
ers who  were  engaged  in  the  struggle  in  England 


THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND.  7 1 

remained  behind,  and  that  younger  men,  who 
were  not  needed  at  home,  led  the  colony  across 
the  sea.  Those  who  went  away  were  not 
inferior  to  those  who  stayed  behind.  Though  sep- 
arated by  the  breadth  of  the  Atlantic,  the  two 
sections  of  the  Puritan  party  continued  in  full 
sympathy  with  each  other,  each  section  carrying 
out,  in  its  own  way,  and  according  to  its  environ- 
ment, the  principles  which  they  held  in  common. 
The  plan  for  emigration  had  been  under  discus- 
sion in  the  Puritan  families  for  a  long  time.  Sir 
John  Eliot,  while  a  prisoner  in  the  Tower,  corre- 
sponded with  John  Hampden  about  it.-^  A  notable 
"  agreement "  was  entered  into  at  Cambridge,  in 
1629,  for  the  settlement  of  New  England,  signed 
by  John  Winthrop,  William  Pynchon,  Isaac 
Johnson,  Thomas  Dudley,  and  others.  The  emi- 
gration was  on  a  large  scale.  Endicott  went  to 
Salem  in  1628,  with  forty  or  fifty  persons;  four 
hundred  came  with  Higginson  in  1629;  eight 
hundred  arrived  with  Governor  Winthrop  in  1630. 
Up  to  the  time  of  the  meeting  of  the  Long  Par- 
liament, in  1640,  the  average  number  of  emigrants 
was  about  two  thousand  a  year.  After  the  meet- 
ing of  the  Long  Parliament,  very  few  came  over, 
as  the  Puritans  in  England  had  gained  a  position 
which  gave  them  the  assurance  of  success. 

1  Life  of  Winthrop. 


72      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


XIX. 

The  struggle  in  England  had  been  going  on 
through  all  those  years.  The  most  important 
events  were  connected  with  the  efforts  of  the  king 
to  collect  money  without  the  authority  of  Parlia- 
ment. The  law  officers  of  the  crown  had  found 
TheSMp-  precedents  for  collecting  money  from 
Money.  ^\^^    pQ^-^    towns    to    cquip    ships    for 

the  navy.  Writs  were  issued,  and  the  money 
was  paid  by  the  towns  on  the  coast.  But,  it  w^as 
argued,  the  obligation  to  support  the  royal  navy 
rests  as  much  upon  the  people  who  live  away 
from  the  sea,  as  upon  those  in  the  port  towns.  So 
that  it  was  claimed  that  all  the  people  of  England 
were  bound  to  pay  ship-money.  A  quarter  of  a 
million  a  year  was  collected  in  this  way.  But, 
the  ministers  of  the  king  reasoned,  if  the  people 
of  England  are  bound  to  pay  ship-money  to  sup- 
port the  navy,  they  are  under  an  equal  obligation 
to  pay  ship-money  to  support  the  army,  and  to 
meet  all  the  expenses  of  the  government.  If  such 
claims  as  these  were  allowed,  it  was  plain  that 
there  would  be  no  need  of  the  authority  of  Parlia- 
ment for  the  collection  of  the  revenue. 

It  was  John  Hampden  who  brought  the  question 
before  the  courts.  The  trial  of  this  case,  in  1637, 
attracted  the  attention  of  the  whole  country.     It 


THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND.  73 


lasted  twelve  days.     In   the   end,    seven    of  the 
twelve  judges  decided  that  no  statute  prohibiting 
arbitrary  taxation  could  be  pleaded  against  the 
king's  will.    "  Rex  is  lex,"  said  the  judges.    "  Acts 
of  Parliament  to  take  away  the  king's  royal  power 
in  the  defence  of  his  kingdom  are  void."     The 
king  and  his  courtiers  exulted  over  the  decision; 
but  the  people  of  England  were  aroused  to  a  sense 
of  the  danger  to  their  liberties.     Hampden  had 
gained  his  purpose  by  the  publicity  of  the  proceed- 
ings ;  and  from  that  day  the  people  never  forgot 
the  lesson  of   that    historic   trial.     The  struo-ale 
began  in  Scotland.     The  Scottish  people  renewed 
their  covenant,  and  gathered  an  army  to  resist  the 
efforts  of  Charles  to  introduce  the  Episcopal  forms 
of  worship  into  their  churches.     The  Scottish  war 
made  it  necessary  for  the  king  to  summon  a  Par- 
liament, which  met   in  April,   1640.      The  king 
asked  for  grants  of  money  to  put  down  the  Scottish 
rebellion.     But  the   Commons  declared    that  no 
subsidy  could  be  granted  till  security  was  had  for 
religion,  and  the  rights  of  the  people.     Charles 
dissolved  the  Parliament  after  a  session  of  three 
weeks.     This  dissolution  added  to  the  determina- 
tion of  the  people.     The  king  found  it  impossi- 
ble by  any  expedients  to  raise  money  to  meet  the 
expenses  of  the  war,  and  before  the  year  ended  he 
was  forced  to  summon  another  Parliament.    While 
the  elections  were  pending,  Hampden  and  Pym 


74      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

rode  together  through  the  counties  to  rouse  the 
people  to  a  sense  of  the  crisis  which  was  upon 
them.  When  the  Houses  came  together,  the  first 
The  Long  wcck  was  spcut  in  receiving  petitions 
paruament.  q£  grievanccs,  which  came  pouring  in 
from  every  county  and  borough.  A  list  of  the 
officers,  who  had  executed  the  illegal  orders  of  the 
king,  was  prepared.  The  oppression  and  persecu- 
tion of  Laud  and  his  instruments  were  passed  in 
review.  Strafford  was  impeached  and  sent  to  the 
Tower.  The  Archbishop  followed  him  soon  after. 
The  Puritans  whose  ears  had  been  cropped  off, 
and  who  had  been  sentenced  to  imprisonment  for 
life,  were  set  at  liberty,  and  were  received  in  Lon- 
don with  great  honor,  as  the  martyrs  of  liberty. 
The  House  of  Commons  declared  the  collection 
of  ship-money  illegal,  and  passed  a  statute  which 
put  a  final  end  to  the  claim  of  a  right  to  im- 
pose taxes  of  any  sort  without  the  consent  of 
Parliament.  Another  act  required  the  assembly 
of  Parliament  once  in  three  years,  and  made  it 
the  duty  of  the  returning  officers  to  proceed  with 
the  elections  if  the  king  should  fail  to  summon 
them. 

A  Committee  of  Religion  was  appointed  to 
consider  the  state  of  the  Church,  and  to  free  it 
from  the  innovations  which  had  been  made  by 
Laud  and  his  coadjutors.  But  the  great  majority 
of  this  Parliament,  in  its  best  days,  was  opposed 


THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND.  75 

to  any  change  in  the  constitution  of  the  Church. 
They  set  themselves  to  restore  it  to  its  state  under 
Elizabeth,  and  to  put  an  end  to  the  persecution 
of  the  Non-Conformists. 

We  have  reached  the  point  in  the  history  when 
the  emigration  to  New  England  came  to  an  end. 
The  direct  influence  of  the  English  Puritans  in 
moulding  the  character  of  our  Puritan  forefathers 
lasted  only  so  long  as  the  stream  of  emigration 
continued  to  flow  toward  the  Colonies.  It  is  not 
necessary  for  the  purpose  of  this  book  to  follow 
it  further.  The  two  great  objects  for  which  the 
Puritans  had  been  contending  seemed  to  be  within 
reach  when  the  Long  Parliament  met  at  West- 
minster. The  plans  of  Charles  had  broken  down, 
and  a  personal  government,  without  the  control 
of  Parliament,  was  found  to  be  impossible.  The 
National  Church  was  to  be  henceforth  a  Protes- 
tant Church,  because  the  nation  had  become 
thoroughly  Protestant.  If  the  English  Puritans 
had  been  content  to  secure  these  two  capital 
objects,  —  a  limited  monarchy,  and  a  Protestant 
Church  under  Episcopal  forms  of  government  and 
of  worship,  —  they  would  probably  have  held  the 
control  of  England  for  an  indefinite  period.  But 
unfortunately  the  great  leaders  of  the  party,  Eliot, 
Coke,  Hampden,  and  Pym,  did  not  live  to  guide 
its  policy  when  its  success  was  assured.  New 
leaders  gave  a  new  direction  to  its  action.      The 


76      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

attempt  was  made  to  set  aside  Episcopacy  and 
Monarchy,  both  of  which  were  firmly  rooted  in  the 
traditions  of  the  people.  The  failure  of  the  policy 
of  the  new  leaders  to  establish  a  republican  Com- 
monwealth, and  to  make  Presbyterianism  or 
Independency  the  State  Church,  would  have  been 
foreseen  by  such  statesmen  as  John  Hampden, 
and  John  Pym.  The  restoration  of  the  Monarchy, 
and  of  the  Episcopal  Church  only  hindered  for  a 
few  years  the  success  of  those  principles  of  con- 
stitutional liberty  and  of  religious  reform  for  which 
the  Puritans  had  been  contending  so  long. 


XX. 

A  FEW  words  should  be  added  in  respect  to  the 
quality  and  the  value  of  the  Puritan  party  in 
England.  We  should,  first  of  all,  acknowledge 
its  limitations.  They  had  the  faults  of  their  age. 
The  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  were 
very  far  behind  the  nineteenth.  Our  goodly 
heritao-e  has  come  to  us  as  the  result  of  their 
fidelity  to  the  principles  of  liberty,  as  they  were 
able  to  apprehend  them.  It  must  be  admitted 
also  that  there  was  a  certain  insular  narrowness 
about  the  English  Puritans.  They  were  not  as 
tolerant  as  the  Dutch  Protestants  of  the  sixteenth 
century.  William  the  Silent  was  in  many  ways  a 
more  admirable  character  than  Oliver  Cromwell. 


THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND.  y/ 

A  republic  was  possible  in  the  Low  Countries, 
while  the  English  Commonwealth  was  a  failure. 
The  Pilgrims  went  to  Holland  because  they  had 
heard  that  in  that  country  "  there  was  freedom  of 
relio^ion  for  all  men."  The  Puritans  were  never 
as  tolerant  as  that. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Puritans  were  the  ad- 
vanced Liberals  of  their  time  in  England.  They 
were,  first  of   all,  Protestants  in  their 

....  The  Puritan 

religion  and  Calvinists  in  their  theology,    spirit  and 
and  they  were  therefore  the  champions 
of  liberty  in  the  Church  and  in  the  state.    All  their 
tendencies  led  them  to  claim  their  rights  as  Eng- 
lishmen under  the  ancient  laws  of  the  realm.    They 
stood  for  Magna  Charta.     They  formulated  the 
Petition  of  Right.     They  combined  to  resist  the 
attacks  upon  the  rights  of  the  people. 
.    No  greater  wrong  has  been  done  to  the  Puritans 
than  by  the  assumption  that  they  were,  as  a  class, 
rude  and  unsfraceful  in  their  ways  of 

^  .  -^  Their  Manners 

living.  There  was  a  time,  after  they  and  Domestic 
had  gained  political  power,  when  large 
numbers  of  selfish  and  insincere  men  joined 
them,  and  when  the  Puritan  character  degen- 
erated. There  were  perhaps  hypocrites  among 
them  when  they  had  within  their  gift  the  high- 
est honors  of  the  Commonwealth.  These  men 
exaggerated  their  peculiarities,  and  brought  them 
into  contempt.     But  the  Puritans  of  the  age  of 


yS      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


Elizabeth,  and  of  James  and  Charles,  were  genu- 
ine patriots,  and  their  lives  were  as  gentle  as  they 
were  heroic.  "  The  Puritanism  of  the  first  forty 
years  of  the  seventeenth  century,"  says  Mr. 
Palfrey,  "  was  not  tainted  with  degrading  or 
ungraceful  associations  of  any  sort.  The  rank, 
the  wealth,  the  chivalry,  the  genius,  the  learning, 
the  accomplishments,  the  social  refinements,  and 
elegance  of  the  time  were  largely  represented 
in  its  ranks.  The  statesmen  of  the  first  period 
of  the  Long  Parliament  had  been  bred  in  the 
luxury  of  the  landed  aristocracy  of  the  realm. 
The  Parliamentary  General,  Essex,  was  a  man  with 
every  grace  of  person,  mind,  and  culture,  fitted 
to  be  the  ornament  of  a  splendid  court.  John 
Milton,  the  Latin  Secretary  of  Cromwell,  who 
was  equal  to  the  foremost  of  mankind  in  genius 
and  learning,  was  skilled  in  all  manly  exercises, 
and  proficient  in  the  lighter  accomplishments, 
beyond  any  other  Englishman  of  his  day.  There 
was  no  better  swordsman  or  amateur  musician 
than  he ;  and  his  portraits  exhibit  him  with  locks 
as  flowing  as  Prince  Rupert's.  John  Owen,  the 
great  theologian  of  the  Puritans,  was  considered 
in  his  time  something  of  a  coxcomb."  ^  There  are 
no  more  tender  or  graceful  letters  in  our  literature 
than  those  of  John  Winthrop  to  his  wife.  The  life 
of  Colonel  Hutchinson,  written  by  his  widow,  gives 

1  Palfrey,  i.  279-281. 


THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND. 


79 


a  most  attractive  picture  of  a  Puritan  family  at 
that  time.  She  dwells  on  his  personal  beauty, 
and  on  his  love  of  music,  "  often  diverting  himself 
with  a  viol,  on  which  he  played  masterly." 

Nor  did  the  Puritans  of  that  earlier  time  break 
with  the  harmless  gayeties  of  the  world  about  them. 
They  entered  with  zest  into  the  sports  of  English 
country  life.  They  were  not  iconoclasts  until 
they  were  convinced  that  the  High  Church  party 
were  making  use  of  music  and  art  to  divert  men 
from  the  true  religious  life.  That  which  we  call 
the  sternness  of  the  Puritan  spirit  was  the  result, 
in  large  part,  of  persecution  and  of  the  struggle 
to  maintain  the  truth. 

The  Puritans  were  the  friends  of  learning  in 
their  time.  A  large  number  of  them  were  grad- 
uates from  Cambridge  or  Oxford.  They  made 
some  noble  contributions  to  English  literature. 
A  Puritan  was  the  first  Protestant  founder  of 
a  college  in  an  English  university.  A  graduate 
from  a  Puritan  college  in  Cambridge  was  the 
founder  of  Harvard  University.  The  Puritans 
had  a  fair  share  of  the  learning  and  eloquence 
of  their  times. 

We  do  well  to  remember  that  the  great 
Puritan  migration  to  New  England  took  place 
in  the  best  period  of  Puritanism,  before  the  party 
had  been  weakened  by  those  who  came  to  it 
after  its  victory  had  been  w^on.     Our  forefathers 


80    THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

brought  to  New  England  the  best  that  the  Old 
England  had  to  give. 

If  we  inquire  what  influences  this  great  party- 
has   left   with    the    English-speaking    races,    the 
answer  will  be :  Free   ofovernments,  bv 

Permanent  ^  '      -^ 

Influence  of  the  pcoplc,  and  for  the  people,  on  both 
sides  of  the  Atlantic ;  a  free  press ; 
an  enlightened  public  opinion,  which  controls 
princes  and  Cabinets ;  free  public  schools  open 
to  the  children  of  the  people ;  a  nobler  Christian 
manhood ;  a  fuller  comprehension  of  the  religion 
of  Christ,  which  brings  help  and  comfort  to  the 
poor,  which  brings  liberty  to  the  slaves  as  those 
redeemed  by  the  Saviour  of  the  world;  the 
separation  of  Church  and  state ;  the  equality 
of  all  branches  of  the  Church  before  the  law; 
freedom  within  the  Church,  whether  it  be  Prela- 
tical  or  Presbyterian  or  Congregational ;  a  quiet 
Sunday,  with  its  opportunities  for  the  culture  of 
the  spiritual  nature  ;  and  a  free  pulpit,  in  sympathy 
with  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men  ;  preaching 
in  pagan  lands,  and  in  those  that  are  Christian  ; 
the  Gospel  for  all  such  as  labor  and  are  heavy 
laden. 


II. 


The   Pilgrim  and  the   Puritan 
Which  ? 


The   Pilgrim   and   the   Puritan: 
Which  ? 

T^HE  history  of  the  Puritan  party  in  England 
■^  prepares  us  to  appreciate  the  early  settlers  of 
New  England.  That  strong  and  peculiar  type 
of  men  had  been  developed  by  the  experiences 
of  three  generations  in  the  Mother  Country. 
They  brought  with  them  the  principles  for  which 
they  had  been  struggling.  They  came  to  the 
New  World  because  they  hoped  to  lay  the  foun- 
dations of  a  free  state,  and  a  free  Protestant 
Church  such  as  they  had  tried  to  develop  in  the 
land  of  their  fathers.  The  success  of  the  earlier 
English  colonies  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  had 
not  been  so  great  as  to  awaken  any  enthusiasm 
for  emigration.  There  had  been  severe  priva- 
tions, and  some  disastrous  failures.  The  evi- 
dence is  conclusive  that  our  forefathers  came  to 
New  England  not  as  adventurers,  but,  as  the 
friends  of  liberty  and  of  the  Protestant  religion, 
to  found  a  state  in  which  they  could  work  out 
the  principles  for  which  they  had  been  contend- 
ing, and  which  they  had  come  to  believe  could 
not  be  developed  in  the  Old  World. 


84      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


We  shall  do  well  to  study,  first  of  all,  the 
characteristics  of  the  two  earliest  colonies.  For 
The  Two  it  is  well  known  that  the   Province  of 

Colonies.  Massachusctts,  which  was  constituted 

in  the  year  1692,  was  made  up  from  two  original 
colonies,  —  the  Plymouth  Colony,  or,  as  we 
say,  the  Old  Colony;  and  the  Colony  of  Mas- 
sachusetts Bay.  We  have  already  seen  that  the 
two  colonies  were  settled  at  different  times,  by 
different  classes  of  people.  The  Pilgrims  had 
come  from  their  life  in  Holland,  where  the  influ- 
ence of  William  the  Silent  had  given  a  free  and 
tolerant  spirit  to  the  earnest  Protestants  who  had 
stood  heroically  against  the  armies  of  Spain. 
They  could  not  forget  the  country  where  they 
had  found  refuge  from  persecution.  They  were 
the  disciples  of  Robert  Browne,  and  they  had 
founded  a  Separatist  Church  in  the  new  set- 
tlement. The  Puritans  were  fresh  from  the  great 
national  contest  for  their  rights  as  Englishmen 
under  Magna  Charta,  in  the  times  of  Charles 
the  First  and  Bishop  Laud.  They  brought 
with  them  the  principles  of  Sir  John  Eliot, 
John  Hampden,  and  John  Pym.  They  had  a 
great  dread  of  Popery,  and  they  believed  the 
Church  of  England  was  relapsing  into  the  super- 
stitions of  Romanism. 

Each  Colony  was  developing  its  political  and 
religious  institutions  in  its  own  way.     In  many 


THE  PILGRIM  AND    THE  PURITAN:    WHICH  1  85 

respects  the  two  colonies  were  similar,  in  other 
respects  they  were  unlike.  It  was  with  them 
much  as  it  had  been  with  the  Republics  of  Greece 
in  the  best  periods  of  Grecian  history.  The  dif- 
ferences between  them  —  small  as  well  as  great 
—  were  continued  from  one  generation  to  another. 
If  the  two  colonies  had  not  been  welded  together 
by  the  imperial  mandate  from  England,  it  is  very 
likely  that  the  differences  between  them  would 
have  continued,  and  perhaps  become  more  strik- 
ing, just  as  the  differences  between  Athens  and 
Sparta  and  Corinth  did. 

We  shall  come  to  a  closer  study  of  these  two 
colonies,  as  we  consider  the  question:  Which 
has  had  most  to  do  in  moulding  the  people  of  New 
England  ? 

I. 

The  earlier  historians  usually  gave  the  prece- 
dence to  the  Puritans.  Even  so  recent  a  writer 
as  Mr.  Palfrey  gives  much  the  larger  xheEaruer 
space  to  the  annals  of  the  younger  Historians, 
colony.  Plymouth  occupies  quite  a  subordinate 
place  in  his  volumes.  But  in  later  times  there 
has  been  a  higher  estimate  of  the  character  and 
influence  of  the  Pilgrims.  Dr.  Leonard  Bacon, 
for  example,  wrote  of  them  as  though  almost  every- 
thing that  is  excellent  in  the  New  England  char- 
acter had  been  derived  from  them.     He  has  been 


86      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

followed  by  a  number  of  more  recent  authors, 
so  that  it  has  become  the  fashion  to  ascribe 
almost  every  excellence  of  our  people  to  those 
who  came  over  in  the  Mayflower.  New  Eng- 
land families  are  eager  to  trace  their  lineage  back 
to  the  Pilgrim  Fathers.  A  great  many  churches 
have  been  named  from  the  Pilgrims,  few,  in  com- 
parison, from  the  Puritans. 


II. 

The  Pilgrims  began  their  settlement  at  Ply- 
mouth in  1620.  So  that  theirs  was  properly 
Difference  in  Called  the  Old  Colony.  The  Puritans 
Date.  began    their   colony   at    Salem    eight 

years  later ;  and  as  their  settlements  extended 
around  Massachusetts  Bay,  the  Colony  was  called 
the  Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  In  a  new 
country  the  advantage  of  a  few  years  in  residence 
counts  for  much.  The  Pilgrims  had  a  Colony 
well  organized  and  governed  according  to  demo- 
cratic principles,  and  a  Church  organized  after 
the  Congregational  way  before  the  Puritans 
came.  It  may  be  that  the  Puritans  would  have 
come  to  America  if  the  Pilgrims  had  not  been 
already  settled  at  Plymouth;  but  it  is  certain 
that  the  Puritans  were  more  inclined  to  make 
the  venture,  from  the  fact  that  a  Colony  of  devout 
Protestant    Englishmen   had    already   gained   a 


THE  PILGRIM  AND    THE  PURITAN:    WHICH!  8/ 


foothold  here.  The  Puritans  naturally  looked 
to  the  Colony  at  Plymouth  for  models  in  the 
organization  of  their  State,  and  of  their  churches. 


III. 


The   pioneers   in   these  two  colonies  differed 
in  some  important  respects  in  their  views  of  the 
Church.     The  Pilgrims  had  been,  for 
many  years  before  they  came  to  Ply-  Sd^N^con- 


formists. 


mouth.  Separatists.     The  Puritans  had 
no   scruples    about    their   connection    with   the 
Protestant  Church  established  in  England.    They 
could  continue  in  its  worship  and  discipline  with 
good  consciences,  provided  it  was  faithful  to  the 
Protestant  Reformation.     It  has  been  abundantly 
shown  that  their  objection  was  not  to  the  use  of 
the  Liturgy  in  public  worship,  nor  to  prelatical 
government.     They  objected  to  certain  teachings 
of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  then  in  use,  and 
to  certain  forms  and  ceremonies  which,  as  they 
believed,  tended  toward  the  superstitions  of  the 
Church    of  Rome.     The    Puritans    therefore,  so 
long  as  they  remained  in  England,  claimed  their 
rights  as  members  of  the  National  Church.    They 
refused  to  conform  to  practices  which  they  re- 
garded as  evil,  and  claimed  the  right  to  worship 
in  the  churches  of  the  establishment,  and  to  con- 
tinue  members  of  the  National  Church,  without 


88      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND 


conforming  to  its  objectionable  practices.  Several 
of  the  men  who  came  with  Governor  Winthrop, 
in  1630,  had  been  church  wardens  in  England. 
Some  of  them  went  back  to  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land when  they  returned  to  the  Old  Country  to 
spend  their  declining  years.  It  is  related  that 
when  the  ship  which  carried  Mr.  Higginson  to 
Salem  came  to  Land's  End,  he  called  the  passen- 
gers to  take  a  last  view  of  England,  and  said : 
"  We  will  not  say  as  the  Separatists  were  wont 
to  say,  Farewell,  Babylon,  farewell,  Rome;  but 
we  will  say.  Farewell,  dear  England,  farewell,  the 
Church  of  God  in  England.  We  do  not  go  to 
New  England  as  Separatists  from  the  Church 
of  England,  though  we  cannot  but  separate  from 
the  corruptions  of  it ;  but  we  go  to  practise  the 
positive  part  of  Church  reformation,  and  to  pro- 
pagate the  Gospel  in  America."^ 

When  Governor  Winthrop  was  setting  out  for 
America  with  his  company,  they  issued  an  address 
to  their  countrymen,  which  was  dated  April  7,  1630, 
in  which  they  said  :  "  We  esteem  it  an  honor  to 
call  the  Church  of  England  our  dear  Mother,  and 
cannot  part  from  our  native  country  without  much 
sadness  of  heart,  and  many  tears  in  our  eyes.  .  .  . 
We  bless  God  for  the  parentage  and  education  as 
members  of  the  same  body,  and  shall  always  rejoice 

1  Genesis  of  the  New  England  Churches,  Dr.  Leonard  Bacon, 
467. 


THE  PILGRIM  AND    THE  PURITAN:    WHICH  1  89 

in  her  good.  .  .  .  We  wish  our  heads  and  hearts 
may  be  fountains  of  tears  for  your  everlasting 
welfare,  when  we  shall  be  in  our  poor  cottages  in 
the  wilderness.  .  .  .  And  so,  commending  you  to 
the  grace  of  God  in  Christ,  we  shall  ever  remain 
your  assured  friends  and  brethren."  ^  It  is  plain 
from  these  words,  which  were  probably  written  by 
the  Reverend  John  White,  the  Puritan  rector  of 
Trinity  Church  in  Dorchester,  that  the  Puritans 
were  much  less  severe  in  their  judgments  of  the 
English  Church,  —  much  more  charitable  in  these 
respects,  —  than  the  Pilgrims. 


IV. 

It  was  not  alone  in  their  relations  to  the  Church 
of  England  that  the  Pilgrims  differed  from  the  Pur- 
itans.    The  Pilojrims  were,  for  the  most  „  .,^  .. 

^  ...  Social  Position 

part,  people  in  humble  stations  in  life.  ofthePiigrims 
Governor  Bradford  says,  "they  were 
not  acquainted  with  trades,  nor  traffic,  but  had 
been  used  to  a  plain  country  life,  and  the  innocent 
trade  of  husbandry."  Mr.  Palfrey  speaks  of  them 
as  "  north  country  peasants ;  "  and  he  states  that  it 
is  not  known  to  this  day  from  what  English  homes 
they  came.^     They  were  people   of  simple  faith, 

1  Quoted  by  Dr.  Twitchell  in  his  Life  of  Governor  Winthrop, 
53-54.     Also  in  Palfrey,  vol.  i.  312. 

2  Young's  Chronicles,  25.     Palfrey,  vol.  i.  139,  160. 


90      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

ready  to  suffer  the  loss  of  all  things  for  conscience's 
sake.  When  they  came  to  Leyden,  they  fell  into 
such  trades  and  employments  as  they  best  could. 
Some  were  registered  as  silk-workers,  some  as 
wool-carders,  fustian-makers  ;  three  were  printers, 
one  a  mason,  one  a  carpenter,  one  a  tailor,  one  a 
smith,  and  five  were  merchants. 

I  do  not  forget  by  any  means  the  eminent  men 
who  were  the  leaders  of  the  Plymouth  Colony : 
the  excellent  Governor  Carver;  Governor  Brad- 
ford, the  historian  of  the  Colony,  and  for  thirty 
years  its  enterprising  and  sagacious  chief  magis- 
tate ;  Governor  Winslow,  descended  from  an  an- 
cient English  family,  a  gentleman  of  consummate 
address,  a  born  diplomatist ;  and  Elder  Brewster, 
a  scholar  and  courtier  in  earlier  life,  and  later 
the  beloved  ruling  Elder  of  the  Church,  and  for 
the  many  years  while  the  people  were  without  a 
minister,  the  reHgious  teacher  of  the  congregation. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Puritans  who  came  to 
Massachusetts  were,  for  the  most  part,  persons  in 
comfortable  circumstances  in  life,  of  good  educa- 
tion, and  with  good  social  connections  in  England, 
social  Position  "  The  principal  planters  of  Massachu- 
ofthe  setts,"  says  Dr.  Bacon,  "were  Enorlish 

Puritans.  ■'  ^ 

country  gentlemen  of  no  inconsidera- 
ble fortunes,  of  enlarged  understandings,  improved 
by  liberal  education."^     The  great  Puritan  party 

1  Genesis  of  New  England  Churches,  229,  230. 


THE  PILGRIM  AND   THE  PURITAN:    WHICH?  9 1 

of  England  moulded  the  public  opinion  of  that 
country,  for  the  first  half  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury. Those  who  came  to  New  England  were 
fitted  by  their  abilities  and  training  to  be  the 
founders  of  States.  An  unusual  proportion  of 
them  were  graduates  from  the  English  universi- 
ties. Others  who  were  not  graduates  were  well 
read  in  history  and  literature,  and  in  theology. 
Their  ministers  were  the  equals  in  ability  and  in 
culture  of  the  clergymen  who  remained  in  the 
National  Church. 

V. 

It  will  help  us  to  understand  the  two  colonies, 
if  we  compare  them  with  respect  to  the  leading 
objects  of  their  founders.  The  Pilgrims  came  to 
these  shores,  not  from  the  Mother  Country,  but 
from  Holland.  They  were  already  exiles.  They 
came  to  the  wilderness  as  a  place  of  refuge.  They 
were  already  a  people  without  a  country. 
Their  condition  in  Holland  had  been  a  thepugrim 
hard  one ;  so  hard  that  they  were  glad 
to  go  from  it  into  the  New  World.  They  were 
especially  anxious  to  find  a  place  where  they  could 
bring  up  their  children  to  good  habits,  and  where 
they  would  be  likely  to  use  the  English  language, 
and  to  keep  their  connection  with  the  English  na- 
tion. They  had  also  very  much  at  heart  the  con- 
version of  the  pagan  Indians  to  the  Christian  faith. 


92       THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

The  plans   of   the    Puritans  were  much  more 

comprehensive.     They   came   to   found    a    New 

Eno^land    because    the   Old     Ens^land 
Objects  of  ^  .      ■,.,        .  1 

the  Puritan       Seemed  to  have  lost  its  liberties,  and  to 

^''^-  lie  helpless  at  the  feet  of  Charles  the 

First.  They  came  here  as  the  representatives  of 
the  Puritan  party,  —  a  party  which  included  at  that 
time  a  majority  of  the  English  people.  It  does 
not  appear  from  their  history  that  religious  mo- 
tives had  less  influence  with  the  Puritans  than 
with  the  Pilgrims.  But  the  Puritans  had,  in  addi- 
tion to  their  religious  interests,  certain  political 
plans  which  they  never  lost  sight  of.  There  were 
great  statesmen  among  them,  and  great  theolo- 
gians. That  portion  of  this  party  which  settled 
Massachusetts  was  in  sympathy  with  the  great 
Puritan  leaders  in  England.  They  regarded 
themselves  as  the  pioneers  of  a  movement  which 
was  likely  to  transfer  a  large  part  of  the  nation  to 
the  New  World.  They  had  suffered  for  many 
years  for  their  devotion  to  liberty  and  to  the 
Protestant  religion  in  England  ;  and  they  purposed 
to  found  a  Colony  in  w^hich  they,  and  those  who 
should  join  them,  would  be  free  according  to  the 
ancient  charters  and  statutes  of  England.  It  was 
not  their  purpose  to  open  their  Colony  to  people 
of  different  views  from  their  own,  for  the  reason 
that  they  were  yet  weak  and  comparatively  few 
in  number,  and  they  could  not  tell  what  would  be 


THE  PILGRIM  AND  THE  PURITAN:    WHICH  1  93 

the  result  of  opening  their  doors  to  all  comers. 
They  were  going  into  the  wilderness  to  enjoy 
peace  and  freedom ;  and  they  did  not  dare  run  the 
risk  of  losing  the  objects  for  which  they  had 
expatriated  themselves,  by  admitting  people  of  all 
faiths,  and  of  all  political  views.  They  would 
found  a  Puritan  state  for  the  oppressed  Puritans ; 
and  they  claimed  the  right  to  send  away  any  per- 
sons who  seemed  to  them  likely  to  disturb  the 
peace  and  unity  of  the  Colony. 

In  the  earlier  years  of  their  history  there  was  a 
prospect  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  English  Pur- 
itans would  be  compelled  to  leave  England  for 
America,  just  as  a  large  proportion  of  the  French 
Huguenots  had  been  compelled  to  leave  France. 
They  were  as  resolute  as  Cromwell's  Ironsides  to 
protect  the  asylum  which  they  had  founded. 
Their  plans  were  carefully  laid.  When  there  was 
a  prospect  that  King  Charles  would  try  to  compel 
them  to  submit  to  unjust  demands,  they  proceeded 
to  build  fortifications  in  Boston  Harbor,  and  to 
arm  and  discipline  the  militia,  so  as  to  be  prepared 
to  resist  any  attempts  to  subjugate  them.  The 
Spirit  of  1776  had  been  developed  among  the 
Massachusetts  Puritans  more  than  a  hundred 
years  before  that  date.  They  were  bold,  partly 
because  they  were  men  of  courage  as  well  as  of 
faith,  and  partly  because  they  had  back  of  them 
a  numerous  and  powerful  party  at  home. 


94     THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


VI. 

In  respect  to  the  form  of  organization  for  the 
churches,  the  influence  of  the  Pilgrims  was  the 
leading  influence.  They  had  a  church  organized 
after  the  Congregational  way  before  they  came 
from  Leyden.  Their  pastor,  John  Robinson,  had 
given  them  clear  and  decided  views  in  regard  to 
the  pattern  of  the  Church  which  the  New  Testa- 
ment furnishes.  It  had  been  agreed  that  although 
the  Pastor  and  a  large  part  of  the  members  were 
to  remain  in  Holland,  those  who  went  to  America 
were  to  constitute  an  Independent  Church.  The 
Pilgrim  Church  at  Plymouth  was  an  independent 
branch  of  the  church  in  Leyden.  When  the 
Puritans  began  their  Colony  this  Pilgrim  Church 
had  been  in  regular  existence  a  number  of  years. 

So  far  as  can  be  known,  the  Puritans  had  no 
definite  plans  for  the  organization  of  the  Church 
when  they  landed.  It  is  as  clear  as  anything  else 
in  their  history  that  they  had  continued  up  to  that 
time  members  of  the  Church  of  England.  Their 
ministers  had  been  ordained  as  ministers 

The  Ptiritaii 

Views  of  the  in  the  Episcopal  Church,  and  all  their 
^"^  '  ministry  had  been  in  that  church.  The 
Puritans  had  decided  objections  to  the  Separatist 
Churches,  and  had  been  unfriendly  to  the  Pilgrims 
because  they  had  broken  away  entirely  from  the 


THE  PILGRIM  AND  THE  PURITAN:    WHICH  1  95 

National  Church.  Their  natural  affiliation  as 
Protestants  and  Non-Conformists  was  with  the 
Reformed  Churches  of  Geneva,  and  of  France  and 
Scotland.  The  connections  between  the  English 
Puritans  and  the  churches  of  Geneva  had  been 
very  close  for  many  years.  If  they  were  to  break 
away  from  the  Church  of  England  it  was  the  most 
natural  thing  in  the  world  for  them  to  follow  the 
method  of  almost  all  the  Protestant  churches, 
except  the  Church  of  England,  and  organize 
according  to  some  of  the  Presbyterian  models. 
Their  leading  men  were  in  correspondence  with 
the  leading  Calvinistic  ministers  on  the  continent, 
and  they  were  familiar  with  the  practical  working 
of  their  churches. 

But  the  Puritans  were  hardly  an  organized 
Colony  before  they  consulted  the  Pilgrims  in 
regard  to  the  best  way  of  forming  a  church.-^  Their 
bitter  experiences  in  the  English  Church  had  pre- 
pared them  to  look  with  more  favor  upon  the 
non-prelatical  churches.  When  the  conciliatory 
proposals  of  the  Millenary  Petition  were  rejected, 
and  when  the  whole  power  of  the  Established 
Church  was  used  to  "  make  them  conform,  or  to 
harry  them  out  of  the  land,"  and  when,  for  many 
years,  they  saw  their  national  church  moving 
toward   the   practices   and  the  doctrines  of  the 

1  Mass.  Hist.  Collections,  iii.  6^^  75.     Young's  Chronicles,  386. 
Winslow's  Brief  Narrative. 


g6      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

Romanists,  their  opinions  were  gradually  modified 
in  respect  to  the  forms  of  worship  and  the  modes 
of  government  in  that  Church.  So  that  the  Puri- 
tans, who  were  entirely  loyal  to  the  Episcopal 
Church  when  James  the  First  became  King  of 
England,  were  prepared  to  look  with  favor  upon 
a  much  simpler  organization  when  they  came  to 
New  England.  The  fact  that  they  had  left  behind 
the  institutions  of  the  Old  Country,  and  that  they 
were  entirely  free  to  carry  out  their  own  ideas,  had 
much  to  do  with  the  change.  The  most  conserva- 
tive people  become  progressive  in  a  new  country. 

But  there  is  decisive  evidence  that  they  were 
guided  by  the  teachings  and  the  experiences  of 
the  men  of  Plymouth.  Governor  Winslow,  for 
Reasons  why  cxamplc,  says  that  some  of  the  chief  of 
independe^^**  the  Puritans  advised  with  us  in  respect 
Churches.  ^q  ^  right  way  of  worship,  and  desired 
to  know  whereupon  our  practice  was  grounded. 
*'  We  accordingly  showed  them,"  he  says,  "  the 
primitive  practice,  taken  out  of  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles,  and  the  Epistles  written  to  the  several 
churches  by  the  said  Apostles,  together  with  the 
Commandments  of  Christ  the  Lord  in  the  Gospel, 
and  other  our  warrant  for  every  particular  we  did, 
from  the  book  of  God."^  Endicott,  writing  to  Gov- 
ernor Bradford  from  Salem,  in  1629,  thanks  him  for 
sending  Dr.  Fuller  to  them.    He  says  that  he  has 

^  Young's  Chronicles,  386.     Walker's  Creeds  and  Platforms. 


THE  PILGRIM  AND    THE  PURITAN:    WHICH  1  Q/ 

been  satisfied  by  Dr.  Fuller  in  regard  to  the  out- 
ward form  of  God's  worship.  This  Dr.  Fuller  was 
a  deacon  of  the  church  at  Plymouth.  During  the 
winter  of  1628-9  there  was  a  serious  epidemic 
among  the  settlers  at  Salem,  and  Gover-  Dea.  samuei 
nor  Endicott  sent  a  messenger  to  ask  B^ved^^ 
that  Dr.  Fuller  might  be  sent  to  their  ^i^^sician. 
aid.  He  came  at  their  call,  and  remained  at  Salem 
until  the  sickness  abated.  He  was  the  guest  of 
Governor  Endicott;  and"  they  had  much  conver- 
sation about  what  had  been  going  on  at  Plymouth 
during  the  eight  years  since  its  settlement."  Dr. 
Fuller  explained  their  methods  of  procedure  in 
civil  matters,  and  also  in  church  matters ;  and 
Governor  Endicott  accepted  his  views.  This  was 
before  the  organization  of  the  first  church  in  the 
Massachusetts  Colony.  In  the  month  of  June 
following  this  visit  of  Dr.  Fuller,  three  ships  landed 
at  Salem,  bringing  a  large  number  of  passengers. 
On  the  6th  of  August  of  that  year,  the  first  church 
was  formed.  A  small  number  of  the  people  at 
Salem  desired  to  use  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  ; 
but  a  great  majority  preferred  to  follow  the  ex- 
ample of  the  Pilgrim  Church  at  Plymouth,  and 
organize  after  the  Congregational  way.  How 
much  the  influence  of  Governor  Bradford  and  of 
Dr.  Fuller  had  to  do  with  this  decision  may  never 
be  known.  Undoubtedly  they  were  among  the 
instruments  in  the  change  that  took  place  among 

7 


98      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

the  Puritans.  For  it  is  plain  that  there  was  a 
decided  change  of  sentiment  among  them.  When 
the  first  church  among  the  Puritans  was  formed, 
August  6,  1629,  it  was  almost  an  exact  copy  of  the 
Pilgrim  Church  in  Plymouth.^  "  We  have  come 
away  from  the  Common  Prayer,  and  ceremonies 
in  our  native  land,"  they  said,  "  where  we  suffered 
much  for  non-conformity.  In  this  place  of  liberty 
we  cannot  use  them.  Their  imposition  would  be 
a  sinful  violation  of  the  worship  of  God."  "  We 
separate  not  from  the  Church  of  England,  but  from 
its  corruptions." 

The  example  of  the  church  in  Salem  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  churches  that  were  formed  within  a 
year  or  two  in  Charlestown  and  in  Boston.  The 
precedent  was  thus  firmly  established,  and  the 
churches  of  the  Pilgrims  and  those  of  the  Puritans 
were  organized  as  Independent  or  Congregational 
Churches. 

VII. 

In  respect  to  the  political  and  social  institutions 
of  Massachusetts,  the  influence  of  the  Old  Colony 
was  very  great.  The  frame  of  government  in 
the  Pilgrim  Colony  was  as  near  as  practicable  a 
pure  Democracy.     The  suffrage  was  conferred  by 

1  Dr.  Tarbox,  in  Collections  of  the  Old  Colony  Historical  Society, 
1878,  41-50.  Three  Episodes  of  Massachusetts  History,  Charles 
F.  Adams,  1892. 


THE  PILGRIM  AND  THE  PURITAN:    WHICH?  99 


the  freemen  upon  all  whom  they  deemed  worthy  of 
it.  There  was  no  religious  test.  The  Governor 
was  chosen  by  sreneral  suffraofe.     The    « ,. . 

-^    ^  <^  Political 

Citizens  also  elected  a  Council  of  Five    and  scciai 
to  advise  and  assist  the  Governor.    The 
whole  body  of  adult  male  inhabitants  constituted 
the  Legislature.^     There  could  be  no  law  or  tax 
without  the  consent  of  the  freemen.    The  general 
meeting  of  the  freemen  of  the  Colony  was  like  a 
modern  town-meeting.     As  population  increased, 
a  representative  system  became    necessary,   and 
each  town  in  the  Colony  sent  its  representatives 
to  the  House  of  Delegates.     Their  social    ThePiigrim 
institutions  were  also  very  simple.  There    ^^p^^^^^- 
were  few  traces  of  an  aristocracy.     The  people  of 
the  Old  Colony  lived  together  on  terms  of  Chris- 
tian equality. 

The  influence  of  Holland  appears  in  these  insti- 
tutions of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers.  Their  twelve  years 
among  those  stanch  defenders  of  liberty  had 
given  them  new  ideas  in  regard  to  the  right  of 
the  people  to  direct  the  course  of  government, 
and  in  regard  to  the  right  of  suffrage,  and  the 
organization  of  the  town,  and  in  respect  to  legis- 
lation, and  to  common  schools  for  the  people. 
They  introduced  a  number  of  principles  which 
had  not  at  that  time  been  accepted  in  England, 
when  they  laid  the  foundations  of  the  NEW 
England. 

^  Bancroft,  i.  251. 


100       THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


In  the  Massachusetts  Colony,  however,  we  find 
that  they  copied  the  institutions  of  the  Mother 
The  Puritan  Couutry,  and  adopted  many  of  its  social 
Republic.  distinctions.  The  right  of  suffrage  was 
restricted  to  the  members  of  the  churches  of  the 
Colony,  just  as  in  England  the  suffrage  was  limited 
to  communicants  in  the  Church  of  England.  The 
churches  which  were  recognized  by  law,  that  is, 
the  Independent  Congregational  Churches,  were 
supported  by  a  tax  upon  all  the  inhabitants,  just 
as  in  England  the  Established  Church  was  sup- 
ported by  rates  upon  all  property  of  the  people 
of  the  parish.  The  Governor  and  the  Assistants 
were  chosen  by  the  votes  of  the  freemen  of  the 
Colony.  The  Deputies  were  elected  by  the  free- 
men in  each  town.  It  was  seriously  proposed  that 
members  of  the  Court  of  Assistants  should  hold 
office  for  life,  or  until  removed  for  cause.  John 
Cotton  preached  before  the  General  Court,  in  1634, 
"  that  a  magistrate  ought  not  to  be  turned  into  the 
condition  of  a  private  man  without  just  cause." 
It  was  at  one  time  proposed  that  a  number  of  the 
ereat  Puritan  noblemen  should  settle  in  Massa- 
chusetts,  with  the  understanding  that  they  should 
have  a  permanent  place  in  the  government,  and 
that  their  rank  should  be  hereditary.  The  fact  that 
these  proposals  were  made  shows  one  of  the  ten- 
dencies of  the  times.  But  these  tendencies  were 
not  permitted  to  control  the  colony.     The  Demo- 


THE  PILGRIM  AND  THE  PURITAN:    WHICH!         lOI 


cratic  principles  of  the  people  asserted  themselves 
even  in  the  earlier  years.  The  eminent  public 
men,  like  Governor  Winthrop,  learned  from  ex- 
perience that  they  had  no  secure  tenure  of  official 
position,  except  so  long  as  they  carried  out  the  will 
of  those  who  had  elected  them.  It  is  an  error  to 
suppose  that  either  the  ministers,  or  the  more 
prominent  citizens,  had  the  control  of  the  Colony. 
There  were  instances,  even  in  the  early  years, 
when  these  natural  leaders  were  out-voted  and  set 
aside  in  a  popular  election. 

VIII. 

In  respect  to  numbers  and  wealth  the  two  colo- 
nies were  very  unlike.    When  the  Old  Colony  was 
four  years  old,  it  contained  only  thirty-  Numbers  and 
two   cabins,  inhabited  by  one  hundred  ^'^^• 
and  eighty  persons.     Six  years  later,  it  numbered 
three  hundred.      Five  years  after  this,  when  the 
Colony  was  fifteen  years  old,  it  had  only  five  hun- 
dred people.   After  seventy  years,  it  had  only  eight 
thousand  people.    So  slow  was  its  growth.    And 
yet  that  small  Colony  has  exerted  an  influence  out 
of  all  proportion  to  its  numbers.      Its    ^^^^ 
history  reads  like  a  work  of  the  imagina-    oftneoid 

.  ,  •,    1       f  •         Colony. 

tion,  rather  than  a  recital  of  evencs  in 

this   prosaic    world.      There    is  a  certain  poetic 

quality  about  it  which  makes  its  simple  annals 


102      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

very  fascinating.  The  sublime  faith  of  its  people, 
their  patience  under  adversity,  their  boldness  in 
crossing  the  sea  with  limited  numbers  and  scanty 
resources,  the  motives  which  inspired  the  enter- 
prise, —  "  that  we  might  enjoy  liberty  of  con- 
science "  and  "  keep  our  own  language  and  the 
name  of  Englishmen,"  and  "  train  our  children 
as  we  were  trained,"  and  "  enlarge  the  Church  of 
Christ,"  ^  —  and  besides  all  this,  their  gentleness 
and  charity  toward  those  who  differed  with  them, 
their  freedom  from  the  spirit  of  persecution,  their 
tolerance  in  a  century  of  intolerance,  —  all  these 
have  won  for  them  the  sympathy  and  the  admi- 
ration of  good  men  everywhere. 

So  much  as  this  may  be  fairly  and  heartily  con- 
ceded to  the  Pilgrim  Fathers.  And  yet  the  clear- 
headed student  of  New  England  history  will  find, 
as  he  compares  the  two  colonies,  that,  after  all, 
the  elements  of  vigorous  growth  and  permanent 
influence  were  in  the  Puritan  Colony,  rather  than 
in  the  Colony  at  Plymouth.  He  will  look  first 
at  the  numbers  who  came  to  the  Bay  Colony. 
The  number  of  Pilgrims  in  Holland  when  the 
Mayflower  sailed  for  America  was  not  much 
more  than  three  hundred.  Less  than  half  of 
these  sailed  in  the  Mayflower  on  its  first  voyage. 
Those  who  remained  behind  were  a  small  com- 
pany from  which  to  recruit  a  colony.     But  when 

^  Winslow's  Narrative  in  Young's  Chronicles,  381. 


THE  PILGRIM  AND    THE  PURITAN:    WHICH?         IO3 

the  Puritans  crossed  the  sea  the  larger  part  of 
England  was  Puritan.  Twelve  years  after  the 
beginning  of  the  Puritan  settlements,  vigorous 
the  Colony  had  more  than  twenty  thou-  p^^**^^^ 
sand  people.  In  that  time  they  had  c^i^^- 
planted  fifty  towns  and  villages,  built  thirty  or 
forty  churches  and  a  larger  number  of  ministers' 
houses,  a  castle,  forts,  roads,  and  a  prison,  all  at 
their  own  charges.  They  were  living  in  comfort- 
able houses,  with  gardens,  orchards,  cornfields, 
and  well-fenced  fields.^  They  had  founded  Har- 
vard College,  and  they  were  taxing  themselves  for 
its  support.  Colonies  had  already  gone  out  from 
them  to  begin  settlements  on  the  Connecticut 
River,  at  Springfield,  and  at  Hartford,  and  also  at 
New  Haven,  and  in  Rhode  Island,  and  New 
Hampshire.  This  is  a  marvellous  record  of 
growth  for  a  Colony  separated  from  the  Mother 
Country  by  the  width  of  the  Atlantic.  It  indi- 
cates the  singular  energy  and  enterprise  of  the 
Puritans.  It  is  from  such  elements  that  colonies 
grow  into  a  nation. 

IX. 

This  is  the  outward  material  growth.  But  the 
contrast  was  quite  as  marked  in  the  intellectual 
spirit  of  the  two  colonies.     Let  us  take  as  the 

1  Wonder  Working  Providence,  ch.  xiv.  New  England's  First 
Fruits. 


104      ^^^  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

first  illustration  of  this  contrast,  the  religious 
teachers  of  the  people  in  the  two  colonies.  Dur- 
Theinteuec-  ing  the  first  fifty  years  of  the  history  of 
the  Two"  °  Plymouth  there  was  a  singular  lack  of 
Colonies.  permanence  in  the  ministry  of  that  town. 
Lyford,  who  was  their  first  minister,  proved  to  be 
a  weak  as  well  as  a  bad  man,  and  he  was  finally  de- 
Ministersin  po^cd  and  scut  out  of  the  Colony.  The 
the  Plymouth  ncxt  minister  was  a  youuo:  man  named 

Colony.  J  i=i 

Rogers,  who  had  been  sent  over  from 
England.  He  proved  to  be  "crazed  in  his  brain," 
says  Bradford,  "so  that  they  were  fain  to  be  at 
further  charges  to  send  him  back  next  year." 
The  third  minister  was  Smith,  w^ho  came  over 
with  Higginson  in  1629.  He  exercised  his  gifts 
among  them  five  or  six  years.  He  was  soon  seen 
to  be  a  man  of  mean  abilities,  and  finally  "  laid 
down  his  place  of  ministry,  partly  by  his  own  wil- 
lingness, as  thinking  it  too  heavy  a  burden,  and 
partly  at  the  desire  and  by  the  persuasion  of 
others."  ^ 

Next  came  John  Norton,  who  was  "  well  liked 
and  much  desired  of  them,"  but  who  could  not  be 
persuaded  to  remain  longer  than  one  winter,  and 
then  departed  to  enter  upon  his  grand  career  in 
Massachusetts.  Next  came  Mr.  Raynor,  an  excel- 
lent man,  but  not  of  commanding  abilities  or 
character.     Mr.  Charles  Chauncy  was  about  three 

1  Bradford.     Young's  Chronicles,  351. 


THE  PILGRIM  AND   THE  PURITAN:    WHICH  1         IO5 

years  associated  with  Mr.  Raynor  as  Pastor,  Mr. 
Raynor  being  Teacher.  It  was  very  fortunate 
for  the  Pilgrims  that  during  these  years  of  con- 
tinued change  in  the  pastoral  office,  they  were 
able  to  fall  back  upon  their  excellent  Ruling  El- 
der, Mr.  Brewster,  of  whom  Governor  Bradford 
has  written  that  "  when  the  church  had  no  other 
minister,  he  taught  every  Sabbath,  and  that  pow- 
erfully and  profitably,  to  the  great  contentment  of 
his  hearers  and  their  comfortable  edification."^ 
For  thirteen  years  after  the  departure  of  Mr. 
Raynor  the  church  in  Plymouth  was  without  a 
stated  minister.  Elder  Cushman,  the  successor 
of  Elder  Brewster,  preached,  without  being  a 
pastor.  In  1667,  John  Cotton,  Jr.,  came  to  them 
from  Boston,  and  continued  with  the  church  for 
many  years.^ 

The  Royal  Commissioners  reported  to  the 
king,  in  1666,  that  they  found  in  the  Plymouth 
Colony  "  only  twelve  small  towns,"  and  that  the 
people  were  so  poor  that  "  they  were  not  able  to 
maintain  scholars  to  their  ministers,  but  w^ere 
necessitated  to  make  use  of  a  gifted  brother  in 
some  places."  ^  This  statement  of  the  Commis- 
sioners may  have  been  true  of  some  towns,  but 
there  were  a  number  of  university  men  settled  as 

1  Young's  Chronicles,  467. 

2  Goodwin's  Pilgrim  Republic. 
8  Hutchinson's  Collection,  417. 


I06      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

pastors  in  the  Old  Colony,  —  such  as  Ralph  Par- 
tridge of  Duxbury,  John  Lothrop  of  Barnstable, 
Henry  Dunster  of  Scituate,  Samuel  Newman  of 
Rehoboth,  and  Charles  Chauncy  of  Plymouth.^ 

The  contrast  is  very  marked  between  such  a 
ministry  as  these  statements  indicate,  and  the 
ministry  which  we  find  in  the  Colony  of  Massa- 
chusetts in  its  earlier  years,  when  Higginson, 
Cotton,  Norton,  Hooker,  Mather,  Shepard,  and 
The  Ministers  their  associatcs  were  the  intellectual 
chSettf  "^^  leaders  of  their  people,  as  well  as  their 
Colony.  spiritual  guides.  Some  of  them  had 
carried  off  the  honors  in  the  English  universities. 
They  were  among  the  strongest  men  in  the  Col- 
ony. This  difference  indicates  a  great  difference 
in  the  financial  resources  of  the  people  of  the 
two  colonies,  and  possibly  a  difference  in  their 
intellisrence  also. 

There  were  among  the  Puritans  at  that  time  a 
large  number  of  men  of  broad  and  liberal  learn- 
ing. They  were  already  beginning  to  send  to 
the  press  books  and  pamphlets  that  were  very 
creditable  to  their  intelligence  and  their  train- 
ing. These  books  were  published  in  London  at 
first,  and  later  in  Salem  and  Boston.  The  litera- 
ture of  the  first  half  century  is  creditable  not 
only  to  the  authors,  but  to  the  readers  who  were 
able  to  follow  such  close  and  logical  thinking. 

1  Goodwin's  Pilgrim  Republic,  510-540. 


THE  PILGRIM  AND  THE  PURITAN:    WHICH'*         10/ 


Copies  of  these  old  books  have  been  preserved  as 
heirlooms  in  the  older  New  England  families, 
whence  they  are  finding  their  way  into  the  best 
historical  libraries.  Those  who  contributed  to 
this  literature  were  for  the  most  part  dwellers  in 
the  Puritan  colony.  The  Pilgrims  made  some 
valuable  contributions,  but  they  are  few  in  num- 
ber. Boston  and  Cambridge  were  as  truly  the 
intellectual  centres  of  New  England  in  the  seven- 
teenth century  as  they  are  in  the  nineteenth.  Har- 
vard College  was  an  important  means  of  influence, 
and  it  had  much  to  do  in  giving  the  pre-eminence 
to  the  younger  Colony. 


X, 

The  great  enterprises  undertaken  for  the  gen- 
eral interest  of    New   England  had  their  origin 
in  the    Puritan   colonies.      The  synod     ^^^ 
which    prepared    the    Cambridge    Plat-     c^Jndge 
form,  for   example,  was   called    by  the 
General  Court  of    Massachusetts ;  and  the   men 
who  had  the  leading  part  in  framing  that  Plat- 
form, and  so    in   moulding   the  Congregational 
pohty  for  a  hundred  years,  were  either  citizens  of 
Massachusetts  at  that  time,  or  men  like   Hooker, 
who  had  once  belonged  to  that  Colony.    Governor 
Bradford  was  present  as  the  messenger  of    the 
church  in  Plymouth.      So  was  Ralph   Partridge 


I08      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


of  Duxbury,  and  possibly  two  or  three  others  from 
the  Old  Colony.  John  Cotton  of  Boston,  Rich- 
ard Mather  of  Dorchester,  and  Ralph  Partridge 
of  Duxbury  were  appointed  to  draw  up,  each  by 
himself,  a  model  of  church  government.  The 
one  drawn  up  by  Richard  Mather  was  for  sub- 
stance adopted  by  the  synod.  Mr.  Partridge 
also  prepared  a  model,  which  was  not  acceptable 
to  the  majority,  on  account  of  its  Low  Church  ten- 
dencies. The  manuscript  copy,  which  is  still 
preserved  in  the  Library  of  the  Antiquarian 
Society  at  Worcester,  shows  that  the  Pilgrim 
pastor  was  not  as  advanced  a  Congregationalist 
as  the  Puritans  had  already  become.^  This  was 
all  that  the  Plymouth  Colony  contributed  toward 
the  result  of  this  most  important  synod. 

The  confederacy  of  the  four  principal  colonies 
of  New  EnHand  had  its  orio^in  in  the  Puritan 
The  New  Colony  of  Counecticut.  Plymouth  was 
England         a   member  of   it,   with  the  colonies   of 

Confederacy.  ,     tvt  t  t 

Massachusetts  Bay  and  New  Haven; 
but  Plymouth  never  had  a  leading  part  in  the 
Confederacy.  This  was  the  first  in  the  long 
series  of  unions  between  the  English  colonies  and 
provinces  of  North  America,  which  led,  in  the 
course  of  time,  to  the  confederation  of  the  States 

1  Dr.  Dexter's  Congregationalism  as  seen  in  its  Literature, 
335-338-  It  should  be  added  that  the  present  Congregationalism 
is  much  nearer  that  of  the  Plymouth  Church  than  that  of  the 
Cambridire  Platform. 


THE  PILGRIM  AND    THE  PURITAN:    WHICH?         IO9 


in  the  national  Union.  On  the  whole  view  of 
the  history,  it  is  plain  that  the  political  influence 
of  Plymouth  was  never  very  great. 


XI. 

In  respect  to  legislation,  there  was  less  differ- 
ence between  the  Pilgrim  and  the  Puritan  colo- 
nies than  is  commonly  supposed.  Both  legislation, 
were  influenced  by  the  precedents  to 
which  they  had  been  accustomed  in  England, 
and  by  the  general  spirit  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury. The  Pilgrims  had  profited  by  the  larger 
and  more  tolerant  spirit  of  the  Dutch  Republic. 
In  both  colonies  the  people  claimed  the  rights 
and  liberties  of  Englishmen.  In  both,  after  a  few 
years,  the  people  were  taxed  for  the  support  of 
the  regular  ministers,  just  as  they  had  been  in 
England.  Punishments  which  would  now  be 
considered  harsh  and  cruel,  such  as  the  use  of 
the  stocks,  the  pillory,  and  the  whipping-post, 
were  used  in  both  colonies. 

The  laws  of  Plymouth  against  the  Quakers 
were  as  severe  as  those  of  Massachusetts.  Meet- 
ings of  the  Quakers  for  public  worship  Lawsa?ainst 
were  forbidden  by  the  laws  of  the  Col-  tue  Quakers, 
ony  of  Plymouth,  and  all  who  attended  such 
meetings  were  liable  to  a  fine  of  ten  shillings,  and 
all  who  spoke  at  such  meetings  were  liable  to  a 


I  10      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

fine  of  forty  shillings.  Men  in  the  Plymouth 
Colony  were  disfranchised  because  they  were 
Quakers,  and  also  because  they  had  harbored 
Quakers  in  their  houses.  The  law  provided  that 
the  people  called  Quakers  could  be  arrested,  sent 
to  the  House  of  Correction,  put  in  the  stocks,  or 
in  the  cage,  their  books  could  be  seized,  and  their 
horses  also ;  they  could  be  banished,  and,  by  a  late 
law,  they  could  be  put  to  death .-^  The  last  law, 
however,  was  never  executed. 

The  laws  of  Plymouth  provided  that  a  witch 
should  be  put  to  death.  The  Pilgrims  shared  the 
common  belief  of  their  time  that  human  beings 
actually  had  direct  dealings  with  the  Devil,  and 
Laws  against  that  they  uscd  the  power  which  he  gave 
Witchcraft,  them  to  torture  and  to  destroy  their 
enemies;  and  they  thought  it  their  duty  to  punish 
in  the  severest  way  those  who  were  guilty  of 
such  an  offence  against  their  kind.  They  em- 
bodied this  common  belief  in  their  laws. 

But  there  was  a  difference  between  the  two 
colonies  in  respect  to  the  execution  of  the  laws. 
The  Quakers  were  fined,  and  imprisoned,  and 
disfranchised,  and  even  whipped  in  the  Plymouth 
Colony,  not,  however,  on  account  of  their  religious 
opinions,  but  because  of  their  disorderly  practices. 

1  The  authority  for  these  statements  is  found  in  the  printed 
Records  of  the  Plymouth  Colony,  vol.  xi.  ii,  12,  95,  100,  172. 
Goodwin's  Pilgrim  Republic,  478-490,  531. 


THE  PILGRIM  AND  THE  PURITAN:    WHICH  1         III 

But  the  merciful  spirit  of  the  people  would  not 
have  tolerated  the  execution  of  the  death-penalty 
for  such  offences.  They  adopted  the  wiser  course 
of  shutting  them  up  in  prison  when  they  ^^^  ^^^^^^ 
became  persistent  in  disturbing  the  good  spirit  of  the 

^  .  Pilgrims. 

order  and  peace  of  the  community,  as 
the  Quakers  of  that  day  frequently  did.  It  is 
quite  possible  that  this  leniency  of  the  people  of 
Plymouth  may  have  influenced  the  people  of 
Massachusetts  to  repeal  their  law  which  pre- 
scribed the  penalty  of  death  for  such  offences. 

There  were  two  trials  for  witchcraft  within  the 
Colony  of  Plymouth.  But  the  people  had  cooler 
heads  than  the  people  of  Salem  and  of  Trials  for 
Boston.  They  cross-examined  the  wit-  thepi^outu 
nesses,  and  scanned  their  testimony,  and  ^°^°^* 
found  the  charges  not  proven.  The  people  of 
Massachusetts  came  at  length  to  the  same  judg- 
ment. But  before  they  reached  it,  they  had  done 
many  acts  of  cruel  injustice,  which  are  the  darkest 
stain  upon  their  history. 

These  classes  of  laws,  however,  constitute  but  a 
small  part  of  the  legislation  of  the  Colony  of  Mas- 
sachusetts Bay.  There  is  much  in  the  Legislation 
records  of  the  Colony  which  shows  how  MaSacnusetts 
vigilant  and  how  wise  the  people  of  that  ^^'^^^y- 
Colony  were  in  protecting  the  riglits  of  the  citi- 
zen, in  caring  for  the  unfortunate,  in  restraining 
crime,  in  securing  the  financial  prosperity  of  the 


112      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

community,  and  in  protecting  it  from  the  dangers 
which  threatened  it.  That  body  of  laws  has 
exerted  an  influence  far  beyond  the  limits  of 
Massachusetts,  and  has  had  much  to  do  in  mould- 
ing the  institutions  of  our  nation. 

XII. 

In  summing  up  the  results  of  this  comparison 
of  these  two  colonies,  we  shall  do  well  not  to  judge 
either  the  Pilgrims  or  the  Puritans  by  the  stand- 
ards of  our  times,  because  our  times  owe  very 
much  to  their  teaching  and  example.  For  we 
know  that  — 

"  Men  may  rise  on  stepping  stones 
Of  their  dead  selves  to  higher  things." 

Nor  should  we  give  too  much  weight  to  the 
superiority  of  the  Puritans  in  numbers  and 
Results  of  wealth,  and  in  intellectual  and  social 
Comparison,  culture.  For  the  influences  that  rule 
the  world  do  not  come  from  such  things  as  these. 
"  The  meek  shall  inherit  the  earth."  It  may  be 
fairly  claimed  that  the  influence  of  the  Puritans 
upon  New  England  has  been  greater  in  some 
respects  than  that  of  the  Pilgrims.  The  energy, 
the  enterprise,  the  political  sagacity,  the  genius 
for  creating  new  types  of  government, —  these  are 
the  inheritance  of  New  England  from  the  Puritan 
fathers.     The  intellectual  life  of  New  En^^land, 


THE  PILGRIM  AND  THE  PURITAN:    WHICH  1         II3 

and  much  of  its  best  religious  life,  have  come 
from  them.  I  do  not  know  that  the  Pilgrims 
were  more  devout  than  the  Puritans.  There  is 
no  evidence  at  all,  that  I  have  been  able  to  find, 
that  the  religious  life  in  the  churches  within  the 
Colony  of  Plymouth  was  higher  than  that  within 
the  churches  of  the  Colony  of  Massachusetts. 
Governor  Bradford  lamented,  in  his  last  days,  the 
degeneracy  of  his  people  at  Plymouth,  just  as  the 
ministers  in  Boston  lamented  the  decline  from 
the  old  spirit  of  New  England. 

But  the  Pilgrims  had  been  purified  by  the  fires 
of  a  fiercer  persecution.  They  had  learned  les- 
sons of  patience  and  of  gentleness  in  the  hard 
school  of  adversity.  Their  "  gentleness  had  made 
them  great."  New  England  would  not  have  had 
the  same  elements  of  power  if  its  founders  had 
all  been  like  those  who  came  in  the  Mayflower. 
The  New  England  character  would  not  have  given 
its  impress  to  a  great  nation  like  this  republic. 
But,  after  all,  the  beauty,  the  poetry,  of  New  Eng- 
land have  come,  in  great  part,  from  those  who 
landed  on  Plymouth  Rock,  They  have  taught 
the  world  a  larger  tolerance,  gentler  manners, 
purer  laws.  We  have  learned  from  them  the 
grand  possibilities  which  wait  for  men  of  faith, 
who  are  content  to  bow  their  heads  to  the  storm, 
and  commit  their  way  unto  the  Lord,  and  trust 
Him  to  bring  them  to  the  desired  haven. 


III. 

The   Early   Ministers   of  New 
England. 


The   Early   Ministers  of  New 
England. 

THE  Puritan  ministers  were  the  best  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Puritan  fathers.  The 
materials  for  the  study  of  their  character  and 
work  are  provided  for  us  in  their  own  writings, 
and  in  the  writings  of  those  who  were  associated 
with  them  in  planting  the  New  England  colonies. 
There  was  a  reason  why  those  men  published 
so  many  books  and  pamphlets  in  the  years 
when  they  were  so  much  engaged  in  laying  the 
foundations  of  the  Colony.  They  were,  as  we 
have  seen,  the  pioneers  of  the  Puritan  party 
in  England,  and  it  was  part  of  their  work  to 
send  home  clear  and  definite  accounts  of  the 
towns  and  of  the  churches  which  they  were 
planting.  These  narratives  disclose  to  us  the 
motives  and  the  principles  which  governed 
them.  They  are  the  original  documents  from 
which  the  early  history  of  New  England  can 
be  written. 


Il8      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


I. 

These  early  ministers  were  of  course  in 
sympathy  with  the  intense  Protestantism  of  the 
The  Early  English  Puritans.  They  had  been 
Jl^Se'd  the  special  victims  of  Bishop  Laud, 
by  Persecution.  Many  of  them  had  been  driven  from 
their  parishes,  after  years  of  faithful  service,  by 
the  new  requirements  of  the  dominant  party  in 
the  Church.  They  had  suffered  from  heavy  fines, 
and  from  imprisonment.  Some  of  them  had  been 
driven  from  England  years  before  they  came  to 
America.  They  had  found  a  place  of  refuge  in 
Geneva,  and  had  come  under  the  Calvinistic 
influences  of  that  city.  These  men  had  cut  loose 
from  human  traditions,  and  had  formed  the  habit 
of  appealing  to  the  Scriptures  for  the  rules  of 
life,  and  methods  of  worship,  and  of  political 
administration. 

They  were  men  of  one  book,  and  that  book  the 
Bible ;  and  they  regarded  the  Book  as  the  suffi- 
cient rule  in  all  matters,  secular  as  well  as 
ecclesiastical.  They  had  also  a  remarkable 
sense  of  the  authority  of  righteousness.  It  has 
been  said  by  French  writers  that  the  English 
people  differ  from  the  French  in  that  they  are  in- 
clined to  exalt  conscience  as  the  supreme  guide 
of  life.    But  among  the  English  people  the  Pilgrim 


THE  EARLY  MINISTERS  OP  NEW  ENGLAND.         IIQ 


and    Puritan  ministers  were  pre-eminent  in  this 
regard.     They  tested  all  things  by  a  moral  rule. 

They  had  also  a  profound  sense  of  the  presence 
of  God  in  the  world,  and  of  the  responsibility  of 
every  man  to  Him  for  every  act  of  his  life.  With 
this,  there  was  also  a  conviction  of  the  dignity  of 
man,  as  a  free  being,  responsible  directly  to  his 
Creator.  These  high  views  raised  them  above 
the  lower  motives  of  life.  Their  religion  gave 
them,  as  one  has  recently  said,  "a  superb  and 
shining  courage."  It  mattered  very  litde  to 
them  what  consequences  might  come  from  their 
actions,  so  long  as  they  had  the  approval  of 
their  consciences.  Their  history  is  full  of  in- 
cidents which  show  that  they  did  their  work 
from  day  to  day  as  though  standing  on  the 
threshold  of  the  spiritual  world.  In  that  light, 
duty  becomes  the  supreme  law.  It  is  related  of 
Governor  Cranfield  of  New  Hampshire,  that  he 
sent  an  order  to  Rev.  Joshua  Moody,  the  min- 
ister of  Portsmouth,  to  administer  the  Lord's 
Supper,  according  to  the  rites  of  the  Church  of 
England,  to  himself  and  two  of  his  friends,  on  a 
certain  Sunday.  But  neither  the  Governor  nor 
his  friends,  according  to  the  opinions  of  Mr. 
Moody,  were  prepared  to  receive  the  Sacrament. 
So  the  minister  refused  to  obey  the  order  of  the 
Governor,  and,  in  consequence,  was  sent  to  prison 
for  six  months.     It  is  related  of  another  Puritan, 


120      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

—  not  a  minister, — that  on  the  famous  Dark 
Day,  when  the  Day  of  Judgment  was  supposed 
to  be  at  hand,  he  refused  to  consent  to  an  ad- 
journment of  the  Legislature,  of  which  he  was  a 
member,  saying,  "  Either  the  Day  of  Judgment 
has  come,  or  it  has  not ;  if  the  Day  has  come,  I 
choose  to  be  found  at  the  post  of  duty ;  and  if  it 
has  not  come,  there  is  no  reason  for  an  adjourn- 
ment." 

It  is  difficult  to  conceive  of  a  finer  opportunity 
than  the  New  England  Puritans  had  to  work 
out  a  fresh  and  original  system  of  religion  and 
of  government.  Given  those  vigorous  Anglo- 
Saxons,  —  trained  in  the  hard  school  of  adver- 
sity, men  of  faith  and  prayer,  who  had  searched 
all  history  for  examples,  —  transplanted  to  the 
wilderness,  and  left  by  themselves  for  a  cen- 
tury and  a  half,  to  build,  as  best  they  could  a 
Church  and  a  state,  and  the  w^orld  might  be 
sure  that  something  would  be  evolved  that 
would  be  worthy  the  attention  of  the  most 
thoughtful  students  of  history. 


II. 

The  early  ministers  of  New  England  were,  as 
a  class,  men  of  thorough  education  and  culture. 
John    Robinson,^  who  certainly   deserves  to  be 

1  Prince's  History  of  New  England,  38. 


THE  EARLY  MINISTERS  OP  NEW  ENGLAND.         121 


counted  among  the  ministers  who  formed  the 
character  of  the  Pilgrims,  although  he  never 
came  to  America,  was  a  graduate  of  Cam- 
bridge, in  1600,  and  was  a  man  of  great  learning, 
as  well  of  rare  sweetness  of  temper,  and  of  a 
broad  and  tolerant  habit  of  mind.  While  his 
people  were  settled  at  Leyden,  he  was  connected 
with  the  universit}^  of  that  city,  and  was  put 
forward  as  the  ablest  champion  of  Calvinism 
against  the  Arminians.  John  Wilson  and  John 
Cotton,  the  two  earliest  pastors  of  the  First 
Church  in  Boston,  were  both  graduates  of  Cam- 
bridge, and  had  both  been  for  years  clergymen 
in  the  Churcn  of  England.  Cotton  had  been  a 
Fellow  and  a  Tutor  in  Emanuel  College.  For 
more  than  twenty  years  he  was  vicar  in  the 
Church  of  St.  Buttolph,  in  old  Boston,  "  perhaps 
the  most  stately  parish  church  in  England,"  — 
says  Mr.  Palfrey, —  "a  cathedral  in  size  and 
beauty."  His  name  is  still  held  in  honor  in  St. 
Buttolph,  and  a  beautiful  chapel  has  been  re- 
cently fitted  up,  in  that  church,  which  bears  his 
name,  and  a  Latin  inscription  to  his  memory. 
From  this  superb  temple  he  came,  while  in  the 
vigor  of  his  manhood,  "to  preach  the  Gospel 
within  the  mud  walls,  and  under  the  thatched 
roof  of  the  first  meeting-house  in  Boston."  ^ 
Cotton    Mather   says    of   him,    that    "he    was   a 

1  Palfrey,  History  of  New  England,  vol.  i.  368. 


122      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

walking  library,  a  universal  scholar,  an  indefati- 
gable student,  the  Cato  of  his  age  for  his  gravity, 
but  having  a  glory  with  it  which  Cato  had  not."  ^ 
Francis  Higginson  and  Samuel  Skel- 
om^^pSrt^  ton,  the  first  ministers  of  Salem,  were 
S^E^^i^d  ^^^^  graduates  of  Cambridge,  and  had 
been  clergymen  in  the  Church  of 
Eno-land.  Roeer  Williams  was  sjraduated  from 
Pembroke  College,  Cambridge,  and  was  probably 
admitted  to  orders  in  the  National  Church.  He 
was  a  man  of  learning,  a  close  observer  of  nature, 
and  was  the  master  of  a  clear  and  vigorous 
English  style. 

Four  years  after  the  settlement  of  Boston,  there 
were  thirteen  ministers  in  Massachusetts,  most  of 
them  graduates  of  Cambridge  or  Oxford,  and 
several  of  them  distinguished  for  professional 
attainments,  and  most  of  them  men  who  had  held 
livings  in  the  Church  of  England.  Ten  years 
later,  there  were  about  eighty  ministers  in  New 
England,  —  that  is,  one  in  three  hundred  of  the 
population.  A  number  of  these  ministers  were 
men  of  good  property,  and  aristocratic  connections. 
Generally  they  were  graduates  of  the  English 
universities.  The  education  which  those  univer- 
sities imparted  at  that  time  was  such  as  the  classic 
writers  and  the  great  statesmen  of  the  seventeenth 
century  received.     Those  ministers,  as  a  rule,  were 

^  Quoted  in  Sprague's  Annals  of  the  American  Pulpit,  vol.  i.  29. 


THE  EARLY  MINISTERS  OP  NEW  ENGLAND.  1 23 


able  to  read  both  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  in 
the  original  tongues,  and  were  familiar  with  the 
best  theological  literature  of  their  time.  The  peo- 
ple demanded  an  educated  ministry.  The  Royal 
Commissioners  reported  to  the  king,  in  1666,  that 
"  every  town  or  village  in  Connecticut  had  a 
scholar  to  their  minister." 

Thomas  Hooker,  who  was  the  leader  of  the 
Connecticut  Colony,  was  distinguished  as  a  scholar 
at  the  University  of  Cambridge,  where  Thomas 
he  was  graduated,  became  a  clergyman  ^0°^^^- 
in  the  English  Church,  was  silenced  in  the  time  of 
Laud,  went  to  Holland,  and,  in  1633,  came  to  New 
England.  Cotton  Mather  speaks  of  him  as  "  the 
incomparable  Hooker, —  a  man  in  whom  learning 
and  wisdom  were  tempered  with  zeal  and  holiness." 
The  Mathers  —  Richard,  Samuel,  Increase,  and 
Cotton  — were  among  the  most  learned  and  accom- 
plished men  of  their  time.  The  first  was  educated 
at  Oxford,  and  the  three  others  were  graduated 
from  Harvard.  They  showed  that  the  education 
that  was  given  by  the  new  college,  was  a  fair  equiv- 
alent for  that  which  the  old  English  universities 
were  able  to  impart.  John  Norton,  also  a  graduate 
of  Cambridge,  came  to  Boston  in  1635,  and  was 
settled  at  Ipswich,  and  was  afterwards  the  pastor 
of  the  First  Church  in  Boston.  He  was  a  man 
of  great  ability,  a  fine  classical  scholar,  and  a 
well  read  divine,  author  of  a  System  of  Divinity, 


124      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

and  of  a  number  of  other  theological  works  which 
had  great  influence  in  their  day.  Among  them 
was  the  first  book  in  the  Latin  language  produced 
in  Massachusetts. 

Governor  Winthrop  states  that  as  early  as  1638 
there  were  probably  forty  or  fifty  sons  of  Cam- 
bridge dwelling  in  the  villages  of  Massachusetts 
and  Connecticut,  and  not  a  few  of  the  sons  of 
Oxford ;  while  Mr.  Palfrey  states  that  there  were 
in  New  England,  at  any  time  between  1630  and 
1690,  as  many  sons  of  these  two  famous  nurseries 
of  learning  as  would  have  been  found  in  a  pro- 
portionate number  of  their  fellow-subjects  in  the 
Mother  Country.^ 

We  have  some  account  of  the  libraries  of  the 
early  settlers  of  New  England,  laymen  as  well  as 
ministers.  Elder  Brewster  left  a  library  of  two 
hundred  and  seventy-five  substantial  volumes. 
Hooker's  library  was  appraised  after  his  death  at 
three  hundred  pounds,  Davenport's  at  two  hundred 
and  thirty-three  pounds,  Stone's  at  one  hundred 
twenty-seven.  John  Harvard,  the  founder  of 
Harvard  College,  left  a  library  of  three  hundred  and 
twenty  volumes,  classical  and  patristic  works,  as 
well  as  modern  writings  in  theology  and  general 
literature.^  When  we  consider  that  the  sums  at 
which  these  libraries  were  appraised  represent  the 
salary  of  a  minister  in  those  times  for  three  or 

V  Palfrey,  vol.  ii.  38-39.  2  Palfrey,  i.  549  I  vol.  ii.  45. 


THE  EARLY  MINISTERS  OP  NEW  ENGLAND.         12$ 

four  years,  we  can  see  that  they  prized  good  books, 
and  paid  more  for  them  than  for  almost  anything 
else.  Even  more  decisive  in  regard  to  the  intel- 
lectual spirit  of  the  early  ministers  of  New  England 
is  the  quality  of  the  books  which  they  intellectual 
published.  One  who  reads  them  is  |^7y"^^^ 
constantly  surprised  at  the  extent  and  Minsters, 
thoroughness  of  the  learning  of  their  authors. 
The  founding  of  Harvard  College,  in  1636,  was 
perhaps  the  most  decisive  evidence  of  their  love 
of  learning.  The  founders  said  it  was  their  pur- 
pose "  to  advance  learning,  and  perpetuate  it  to 
their  posterity,  dreading  to  leave  an  illiterate 
ministry  to  the  churches,  after  our  present  minis- 
ters shall  lie  in  the  dust."^  And  so  the  people  of 
the  Colony  taxed  themselves  heavily,  from  year  to 
year,  for  the  support  of  the  college.  They  knew 
that  the  free  church  in  a  free  state,  which  they 
were  trying  to  establish,  must  rest  upon  the  intel- 
ligence of  the  people,  and  that  the  people  are 
dependent  in  large  part  upon  the  culture  of  their 
professional  men. 

III. 

The  early  ministers  of  New  England  were  also 
men  of  great  dignity  of  character,  and  courtliness 
of  manner.  The  age  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  of 
the  Stuarts,  was  a  time  when  the  dress  and  man- 

1  New  England  First  Fruits. 


126      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


ners  of  professional  men,  and  of  public  officials, 

were  of  the  first  importance.     There  was  a  great 

deal  of  formality  in  the  intercourse  of 

The  Manners  • .  i  ^i  a-u 

of  the  Early  sucli  pcrsons  With  othcr  men.  Ine 
^^'^^^^^"*  Puritans  brought  with  them  the  style 
and  manners  of  the  higher  classes  in  England,  and 
they  were  very  careful  to  guard  against  the  ten- 
dency, which  must  always  be  felt  in  a  new  country, 
toward  ruder  manners  and  a  lower  culture.  The 
Governor  and  the  judges  wore  their  official  robes 
on  important  public  occasions.  The  portraits 
which  we  have  of  some  of  the  early  ministers  of 
Boston,  and  of  some  other  places  in  Massachusetts, 
represent  them  as  wearing  the  gown  and  bands.^ 
The  practice  may  not  have  been  followed  in  the 
small  towns ;  and  yet,  if  I  may  judge  from  the  por- 
traits I  have  seen,  it  was  not  uncommon.  The  Pur- 
itan ministers  had  been,  the  most  of  them,  ministers 

1  One  cannot  be  sure  of  the  authenticity  of  old  portraits,  in  all 
cases.  The  portrait  of  John  Cotton,  e.g.  which  is  given  without  the 
suggestion  of  a  doubt,  in  the  Memorial  History  of  Boston,  and  in 
the  History  of  the  First  Church,  is  now  known  to  belong  to  some 
descendant  of  the  great  Puritan  divine.  It  is  possible  that  some 
other  portraits  are  not  authentic.  The  following  are  represented 
in  old  portraits  with  gown  and  bands:  John  Wilson,  Richard 
Mather,  Increase  Mather,  Cotton  Mather,  Samuel  Willard,  Benja- 
min Coleman,  John  Davenport,  Charles  Chauncy,  Thomas  Prince, 
John  Hancock  of  Lexington,  William  Cooper,  Benjamin  Wads- 
worth,  Samuel  Phillips  of  Andover,  and  Stephen  Williams  of  Long- 
meadow.  After  the  time  of  Charles  1 1 .  the  ministers  are  represented 
with  the  wig.  This  list  can  be  easily  extended,  but  these  names, 
from  different  localities,  indicate  the  general  custom. 


THE  EARLY  MINISTERS  OP  NEW  ENGLAND,         12/ 


in  the  Church  of  England,  and  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  wear  the  priestly  robes.  So  far  as  the 
customs  of  the  National  Church  seemed  to  them 
to  tend  toward  Popery,  they  laid  them  aside; 
and  the  Puritans  certainly  had  decided  objections 
to  certain  forms  of  clerical  vestments,  which  the 
reactionary  party  —  "  the  high  fliers,"  as  they  were 
called  —  in  the  English  Church,  were  disposed  to 
adopt.  But  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the 
simple  clerical  vestments  which  were  used  by  the 
Protestant  ministers  in  the  English  Church  were 
objected  to  by  the  Puritans.  But  the  gown  and 
bands  which  the  ministers  of  New  England  used, 
came  from  Genevan  and  Scottish  sources,  not  from 
prelatical ;  and  they  put  them  on,  as  the  Presby- 
terian and  Dissenting  ministers  of  Great  Britain 
do  at  the  present  time,  simply  as  the  customary 
badQ:es  of  their  office. 

The  early  Puritan  ministers  who  came  from 
England  represented  the  best  life  of  the  Mother 
Country.  Three  of  those  ministers  —  Cotton, 
Hooker,  and  Davenport  —  were  invited  to  sit  in 
the  Westminster  Assembly.  One  of  them.  Increase 
Mather,  was  sent  to  represent  the  Colony  in  Eng- 
land, when  there  was  need  of  skilful  diplomacy; 
and  he  was  kept  abroad,  as  the  agent  of  the  Colony, 
a  number  of  years.  He  was  a  man  of  practical 
wisdom,  gentle  without  weakness,  and  cautious 
without  timidity.     His  face,  as  represented  in  the 


128      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

old  portraits,  was  almost  feminine  in  its  aspect,  as 
far  as  possible  from  the  hardness  that  is  so  often 
ascribed  to  the  Puritan  ministers. 

There  was  a  dignity  and  authority  in  the  pasto- 
rate in  those  times  which  could  not  outlast  the 
simple  habits  of  Colonial  days.  The  minister  was 
at  the  head  of  a  little  theocracy.  He  used  his 
power  wisely  and  unselfishly,  for  the  most  part ; 
but  he  was  a  man  of  power  by  virtue  of  his  office 
as  a  minister  of  religion.  "  Are  you,  sir,  the  person 
who  serves  here } "  said  a  traveller,  to  the  pastor  at 
Rowley,  whom  he  met  in  the  street.  "  I  am,  sir, 
the  person  who  rules  here,"  was  the  prompt  reply. 
Professor  Park  has  described  Rev.  Samuel  Phil- 
lips, who  was  pastor  of  the  church  in  Andover 
eighty  years  after  the  settlement  of  New  England, 
riding  on  horseback  through  his  parish,  with  his 
wife  on  a  pillion  behind  him,  his  majestic  figure 
crowned  by  a  three-cornered  hat,  as  one  whom 
every  traveller  would  be  sure  to  recognize  as  a 
man  who  held  control  over  his  diocese.  He 
governed  well.  He  was  loved  as  well  as  feared. 
He  was  a  man  of  learning,  author  of  nineteen 
books  and  pamphlets,  an  energetic  pastor,  a  pun- 
gent and  impressive  preacher,  to  the  hearts,  but 
especially  to  the  consciences  of  his  people.-^ 

Mrs.  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe  has  given  some 
interesting  sketches  of  some  of  the  old-time  min- 

1  Bibliotheca  Sacra,  1856-1861. 


THE  EARLY  MINISTERS  OP  NEW  ENGLAND,         1 29 


isters,  which  are  drawn,  for  the  most  part,  from 
rehable  sources,  though  none  of  them  relate  to  the 
first  period  of  Puritan  history.  "  The  parson 
most  vivid  image  of  respectabihty  and  ^^^^p. 
majesty,"  she  says,  "  which  a  Httle  boy,  born  in  a 
Massachusetts  village,  could  form,  was  the  min- 
ister. In  the  little  theocracy  which  the  Puritans 
established  in  the  wilderness,  the  ministry  was  the 
only  order  of  nobility.  It  was  their  voice  that 
determined,  ex-cathedra,  all  questions,  from  the 
choice  of  a  Governor  to  that  of  the  village  school- 
teacher." She  describes  Parson  Lothrop,  a 
successor  of  the  missionary  Eliot,  as  a  fair  repre- 
sentative "  of  the  third  generation  of  the  ministers 
of  Massachusetts  ;  one  of  the  cleanest,  most  gentle- 
manly, most  well-bred  of  men,  never  appearing 
without  all  the  decorums  of  silk-stockings,  shining 
knee  and  shoe  buckles,  well-brushed  shoes,  and 
the  ample,  immaculately-powdered  clerical  wig, 
out  of  which  shone  his  calm,  clear,  serious  face, 
like  the  moon  out  of  a  fleecy  cloud.  His  Sunday 
sermons  were  well-written  specimens  of  the  purest 
and  most  Addisonian  English.  He  had  the  formal 
and  ceremonious  politeness  of  a  gentleman  of  the 
old  school.  He  was  ever  gracious  and  affable,  as 
a  man  who  habitually  surveys  every  one  from 
above,  and  is  disposed  to  listen  \idth  indulgent 
courtesy,  and  who  has  advice  for  all  seekers;  but 
there  was  not  the  slightest  shadow  of  anything 

9 


130      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

which  encouraged  the  most  presuming  to  offer 
advice  in  return.  Parson  Lothrop  was  so  calmly 
awful  in  his  sense  of  his  own  position  and  author- 
ity, that  it  would  have  been  a  sight  worth  seeing 
to  witness  the  coming  of  any  of  his  parish  to  him 
with  suQfeestions  and  admonitions."  ^ 

The  sketch  which  Mrs.  Stowe  has  drawn  of 
Dr.  Hopkins  of  Newport  will  answer  for  the 
ministers  of  the  next  generation.  "  He  entered 
the  dining-room  with  all  the  dignity  of  a  full- 
bottomed,  powdered  wig,  full  flowing  coat,  with 
ample  cuffs,  silver  knee  and  shoe  buckles,  as 
Dr.  Samuel  bccamc  the  majesty  of  a  minister  of  those 
Hopkins.  days.  The  company  rose  at  his  entrance. 
The  men  bowed,  and  the  women  courtesied ;  and 
all  remained  standing  while  he  addressed  to  each, 
with  punctilious  decorum,  those  inquiries  in  regard 
to  health  and  welfare  which  preface  a  social 
interview."^ 

IV. 

In  respect  to  the  maintenance  of  the  ministers, 

it  was  ordered  by  the  Court  of  Assistants  of  the 

Colony  of   Massachusetts,  at  their  first 

Tke  Support  ■'  i  •         •  i         i         a    i  •         i 

of  the  meeting  on  this  side  the  Atlantic,  that 

^^^"*       houses  should  be  built  for  the  ministers 

"  with  convenient  speed,"  and  that  an  allowance 

of  thirty  pounds  a  year  be  made  to  each  of  the 

1  Old  Time  Folks,  3-10.  ^  Minister's  V^ooing,  60. 


THE  EARLY  MINISTERS  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.  I3I 

ministers  from  the  common  treasury.  In  Boston, 
the  ministers  were  provided  for  by  voluntary  con- 
tributions made  every  Sunday  in  the  churches. 
This  custom  was  followed  in  that  town  for  more 
than  a  century.  In  some  other  towns  the  same 
method  was  followed  for  a  few  years.  The  first 
meeting-house  in  Boston,  and  the  house  for  Mr. 
Wilson,  the  first  minister,  were  paid  for  out  of  a 
voluntary  contribution.  The  cost  of  the  two  was 
about  a  hundred  and  twenty  pounds.  After  a  few 
years,  the  larger  number  of  the  churches  adopted 
the  method  of  raising  the  salary  for  the  minister  by 
taxation.  In  1654,  a  law  was  passed  which  pro- 
vided for  raising  money  by  taxation  for  the  salaries 
of  ministers,  the  erection  of  meeting-houses,  and 
for  building  or  hiring  houses  for  the  ministers  to 
live  in.-^  Cotton  Mather  said  that  the  ministers  of 
the  Gospel  would  have  a  poor  time  of  it,  if  they 
must  rely  upon  a  free  contribution  of  the  people 
for  their  maintenance  ;  and  so  it  was  "  enacted 
that  the  salary  for  the  minister  who  has  been  duly 
elected  by  the  majority  of  the  people  shall  be  levied 
by  a  rate  upon  all  the  inhabitants  ;  and  the  minister, 
thus  chosen  by  the  people,  is  the  king's  minister, 
and  the  salary  raised  for  him  is  raised  in  the  king's 
name,  and  is  the  king's  allowance  unto  him."  ^ 

1  Palfrey,  vol.  i.  317;  vol.  ii.  39.     Winthrop,  vol.  i.  '^^.     Mass. 
Records,  i.  87. 

2  Ratio  Disciplinas,  20-21. 


132       THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

He  says  further  that  the  churches  of  New  England 
consider  not  so  much  the  age  as  the  worth  of  a 
candidate  for  ordination,  so  that  they  even  accept 
very  young  ministers  of  great  promise,  and  their 
youth  is  no  prejudice  against  them. 

It  was  common  to  provide  what  was  called  a 
settlement,  in  addition  to  the  annual  salary,  in 
order,  as  they  said,  "  that  if  the  minister  should  die 
during  his  ministry  among  them,  his  family  may 
have  a  comfortable  maintenance."  The  church  in 
New  London,  Connecticut,  for  example,  agreed  to 
pay  their  minister  eighty  pounds  a  year,  for  three 
years,  and  afterwards  "  as  much  more  as  God  shall 
move  our  hearts  to  give,  and  we  do  find  it  needful 
to  pay."  He  was  to  have  "all  such  silver  as  is 
weekly  contributed  by  strangers,  to  help  toward 
buying  of  books."  The  people  were  also  to  pay 
the  expense  of  transporting  his  family  and  effects 
from  Concord,  and  also  to  provide  him  a  house, 
and  small  farm,  and  firewood  free  of  charge.^ 

In  Good  News  from  New  England  there  are 
definite  statements  in  respect  to  the  salaries  of 
ministers  at  that  time :  John  Norton  of  Ipswich 
had  ;^70  a  year;  Richard  Mather  of  Dorchester, 
^70;  John  Cotton  of  Boston,  ^90;  while  John 
Wilson  of  the  same  church  had  ^60;  Thomas 
Parker  of  Newbury,  ^40 ;  and  William  Thompson 
of  Braintree,  ^30.   The  salary  of  the  President  of 

1  Felt's  Ecclesiastical  History  of  N.  E.,  vol.  ii.  331. 


THE  EARLY  MINISTERS  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.  1 33 

Harvard  College  in  those  days  was  ^loo,  after- 
ward increased  to  ^150.^  In  the  earlier  years  of 
the  Colony,  much  of  the  salary  was  paid  in  provi- 
sions. There  was  often  an  agreement  that  a 
certain  proportion  should  be  paid  in  this  w^ay. 

In  most  instances  where  we  are  able  to  get  defi- 
nite accounts  of  ministers  who  lived  in  the  second 
or  third  generation  of  the  Colony,  we  find  that 
they  owned  the  dwellings  which  they  occupied, 
and  that  they  also  owned  a  farm  from  which  a 
part  of  their  maintenance  was  derived.  Peter 
Thatcher  of  Milton  had  a  farm,  and  was  so  well 
informed  in  respect  to  agriculture  that  he  was 
constantly  consulted  by  his  parishioners  in  respect 
to  the  manaoement  of  their  farms.  Even  Presi- 
dent  Edwards  of  Northampton  was  a  farmer ;  and 
thou2:h  he  did  not  know  his  own  cows  when  he 
saw  them,  Mrs.  Edwards  managed  the  business 
so  well  that  a  large  part  of  the  support  of  the 
family  came  from  it.  Rev.  Jonathan  Strong  of 
Randolph  had  a  farm,  which  he  cultivated.  He 
used  to  labor  with  his  hands  a  large  part  of  the 
week  during  the  summer,  and  to  teach  Latin  and 
Greek  to  boys  preparing  for  college  in  the  wanter.^ 
These  examples,  taken  from  different  periods  of 
New  England  history,  are  typical  illustrations  of 
the  close  connection  of  the  ministers  with  agricul- 
ture.    New  England,  for  the  first  two  centuries 

1  This  was  published  in  London  in  1648.        2  Sprague's  Annals. 


134       THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

was  almost  exclusively  an  agricultural  country, 
and  the  pastors  were  the  better  fitted  for  their  work 
by  a  certain  familiarity  with  that  way  of  life. 
Undoubtedly  this  practice  contributed  to  the  per- 
manence of  the  pastorate,  and  to  the  independence 
of  the  ministers.  They  were,  for  the  most  part, 
men  of  substance.  They  had  a  position  and  in- 
fluence as  permanent  citizens,  who  were  rooted  in 
the  soil.  Having  their  permanent  homes,  the 
ministers  were  not  inclined  to  move  from  place  to 
place.  They  had  their  own  horses  and  carriages, 
and  made  long  journeys  in  their  own  conveyances. 
A  minister,  in  the  old  times,  was  not  usually  a 
poor  man.  He  was  the  equal  of  his  parishioners 
in  the  things  that  give  one  an  independent  position 
in  the  community.  His  office  was  respected;  his 
income  was  sure ;  his  home  was  his  own ;  and  he 
could  go  and  come  with  as  much  freedom  as  any 
other  busy  man. 

Out  of  this  state  of  things  grew  the  old-time 
ministerial  hospitality.  It  was  not  common  for 
ministers  on  their  journeys  to  stop  at  hotels. 
Each  country  pastor  was  eager  to  welcome  a 
brother  minister  on  his  journey ;  and  so  it  came 
to  pass  that  the  pastors  had  the  opportunity  very 
often  to  exchange  thoughts  and  impulses  with 
each  other.  These  habits  of  the  New  England 
ministers  continued  to  a  time  within  the  memory 
of  some  now  living.     The   old  independence  of 


THE  EARLY  MINISTERS  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         135 

the  ministers,  living  on  their  own  homesteads, 
among  their  people,  and  cultivating  the  generous 
hospitality  which  was  common  before  the  days  of 
railways,  went  along  with  habits  of  thorough  inves- 
tigation, and  independent  thinking,  along  with  a 
permanent  pastorate,  the  catechetical  instruction 
of  children,  and  a  profound  pastoral  influence. 


V. 

In  respect  to  the  dwellings  of  the  early  minis- 
ters of  New  England,  and  their  furniture,  their 
way  of  living,  and  their  food,  the  information  is 
abundant.  In  Massachusetts,  as  in  the  other 
colonies,  the  log-house,  very  often  with  Dwellings  of 
a  thatched  roof,  served  a  large  proper-  the  Ministers, 
tion  of  the  people  for  a  dwelling  in  the  early  years. 
The  houses  of  the  ministers  were  like  those  of 
the  people.  For  a  few  years  after  the  settlement 
of  Boston,  the  larger  part  of  the  houses  in  that 
town  were  built  of  logs.  The  old  writers  state 
that  the  tall  grass,  gathered  on  the  beaches,  was 
much  used  for  thatching  the  roofs  of  houses. 
But  the  improvement  was  rapid.  A  Puritan 
writer  of  1642  says,  "  The  Lord  hath  been  pleased 
to  turn  all  the  wigwams,  huts,  and  hovels  the 
English  dwelt  in  at  their  first  coming,  into  orderly, 
fair,  well-built  houses,  well  furnished,  many  of 
them,  together  with  orchards  filled  with  goodly 


136      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


fruit-trees,  and  gardens  with  variety  of  flowers."  ^ 
There  is  an  old  house,  built  in  1639  by  Rev.  Mr. 
Whitfield,  which  was  still  standing  a  few  years 
ao-o,  in  Guilford,  Connecticut,  which  was  supposed 
to  be  the  oldest  house  in  the  United  States,  north 
of    Florida.     The  walls  are  of  stone,  very  thick, 
from  a  ledge  not  far  away.     The   roof  is  inclined 
at  an  angle  of  sixty  degrees.     The  height  of  the 
first  story  is  seven  feet,  eight  inches,  and  that  of 
the  second  six  feet,  nine  inches.     In  every  princi- 
pal room  there  is  an  ample  fire-place,  opening  into 
the   great    old-fashioned    chimney.     This    house, 
however,  was  exceptional.     The  small  log-cabin, 
with  the  old  well-sweep   outside,    and  with  culti- 
vated fields  about  it,  —  this  was  the  home  of  the 
ministers    of    the    first   generation.      They   were 
enterprising    men  however,   and,  as    the  country 
became   older  and  richer,  the  ministers  secured 
more  comfortable  dwellings. 

The  articles  of  furniture  which  are  carefully 
preserved  in  our  time,  and  which  are  said  to  have 
come  over  in  the  Mayflower,  give  one  the  impres- 
sion that  the  Pilgrim  homes  were  well 
tteTurit^^  furnished.  Many  of  the  articles  are  of 
^'°''''  English  oak,  elaborately  carved.     One 

may  see  cuts  of  them  in  volumes  that  have  been 
recently  published.  But  the  larger  number  of 
these  articles  are  not  as  old  as  the   Mayflower. 

1  Johnson's  Wonder  W^orking  Providence,  174. 


THE  EARLY  MINISTERS  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         I  37 


If  they  had  all  been  loaded  into  that  small  vessel, 
"  there  would  have  been  no  room,"  as  one  has  said, 
"  for  the  Pilo-rim  Fathers."  ^  It  is  true,  however, 
that  some  of  the  old  furniture  which  is  still  pre- 
served did  come  from  England,  at  various  times, 
during  the  Puritan  exodus,  and  it  is  also  certain 
that  some  of  their  homes  were  well  furnished. 
But  the  furniture  in  most  of  the  early  dwellings 
was  very  plain,  and  of  moderate  cost.  Most  articles 
of  table  furniture  were  made  of  pewter.  No  forks 
appear  in  the  early  inventories  of  household  goods. 
Governpr  Bradford  had  "  four  large  silver  spoons, 
and  nine  of  smaller  size."  But  he  was  accounted 
one  of  the  rich  men  of  the  Colony.  In  1662,  one 
of  the  principal  men  of  Salem  left  to  his  daughter 
by  will,  "  two  pewter  platters  and  likewise  an  iron 
pot."  From  such  items  as  these,  which  appear  in 
a  great  many  inventories,  it  would  seem  that  the 
style  of  furnishing  was  a  long  way  below  that  of 
country  homes  in  our  time.  On  the  other  hand, 
a  few  chairs  and  tables  and  other  articles  which 
undoubtedly  belonged  to  the  early  Colonists  show 
that  some  of  them  brought  into  the  wilderness 
the  best  from  their  ancestral  homes. 

The  food  used  in  the  homes  of  the  early  minis- 
ters was  not  too  rich  for  health  and  comfort.  Not 
much  butcher's  meat  was  to  be  had  at  first  The 
few  domestic  animals  were  permitted  to  multiply 

1  Palfrey,  vol.  ii.  64,  note. 


138      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

that  the  fields  might  be  stocked  with  flocks  and 

herds.     But  game  and  fish  were  abundant.     You 

recollect  that  the   Pilgrims  sent  out  a 

Their  Food.  . 

hunting  party  before  their  first  Thanks- 
giving, that  they  might  have  "  rare  and  dainty 
fare  "  for  the  festival.  In  1642,  however,  "beef, 
pork,  and  mutton  were  common  in  many  houses," 
according  to  an  old  writer,  and  also  "  apples,  pears, 
and  quince  tarts,  instead  of  their  former  pumpkin- 
pies  ;  poultry  they  have  plenty,  and  great  variety, 
and  they  have  not  forgotten  the  English  fashion  of 
stirring  up  their  appetites  with  variety  of  cooking 
their  food."  -^ 

"  In  the  early  days  of  New  England,"  says  Mr. 
Palfrey,  "  wheaten  bread  was  not  so  uncommon 
as  it  afterwards  became,  but  its  place  was  largely 
supplied  by  preparations  of  Indian  corn.  A  mix- 
ture of  two  parts  of  Indian  meal,  with  one  part  of 
rye  flour,  seems  for  two  hundred  years  to  have 
furnished  the  bread  for  the  great  body  of  the 
people."  The  morning  and  evening  meals,  for  a 
hundred  and  fifty  years,  were  commonly  of  boiled 
Indian  meal,  —  hasty  pudding,  —  with  milk  or 
molasses,  or  else  there  was  a  porridge  made  of 
beans  or  peas  flavored  with  salted  beef  or  pork. 
That  was  the  age  of  homespun,  —  plain  living 
and  hiofh  thinking:. 

Tea  was  not  much  used  in  the  first  century  and 

^  Wonder  Working  Providence. 


THE  EARLY  MINISTERS  OP  NEW  ENGLAND. 


139 


a  quarter  of  New  England  history,  nor  coffee  for 
a  century  and  a  half.  Beer,  such  as  could  be  brewed 
in  families,  was  in  common  use ;  and  after 
the  orchards  were  grown,  cider  was  a  very 
common  drink.  Wine  and  spirituous  liquors  were 
brought  into  the  country  in  considerable  quanti- 
ties, and  were  used  freely  by  the  people,  ministers 
as  well  as  laymen.  It  was  common  for  the  people 
to  provide  these  liquors  for  their  ministers  when- 
ever they  came  to  their  homes,  and  also  for  the 
ministers  to  offer  them  to  their  guests.  Yet  a 
careful  observer,  writing  from  Massachusetts  in 
1641,  said,  "Drunkenness  and  profane  swearing 
are  but  rare  in  this  country."  Another  writer 
said,  "  One  may  live  there  from  year  to  year  and 
not  see  a  drunkard,  hear  an  oath,  or  meet  a  beo-o-ar." 

T  0& 

"  In  seven  years,"  said  another,  "  among  thousands 
there  dwelling,  I  never  saw  any  drunk,  nor  heard 
an  oath,  nor  saw  any  begging,  nor  the  Sabbath 
broken."  1 

VI. 

The  New  England  Puritans  called  their  places 
of  worship  meeting-houses,  not  because  they  were 
places  of  assembly  for  the  people,  but  because  they 
went  there  to  meet  the  Lord,  and  to  receive  His 
blessing ;  as  the  children  of  Israel  used  to  go  to 
the  Tabernacle  in  the  Wilderness,  to  receive  com- 

^  Lechford,  69.     New  England  First  Fruits.     Hugh  Peters. 


I40      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND   AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


munications  from  God.  Cotton  Mather  said,  "  I 
find  no  just  ground  in  Scripture  to  apply  such  a 
trope  as  church  to  a  house  for  public  worship.  A 
meeting-house  is  the  term  that  is  most  commonly 
Meeting-  ^^ed  by  New  England  Christians ;  and 
Houses.  every  town,  for  the  most  part,  can  say, 

we  have  a  modest  and  a  handsome  house  for  the 
worship  of  God,  not  set  off  with  gaudy,  pompous, 
theatrical  fineries,  but  suited  unto  the  simplicity 
of  Christian  worship."^  The  meeting-house  was 
the  central  building  of  a  Puritan  town.  The  village 
grew  up  around  it,  and  the  country  roads  were 
laid  out  with  reference  to  it.  The  first  meeting- 
houses were  built  of  logs,  and  thatched.  The  pulpit 
was  a  simple  desk.  There  were  rough  benches  on 
either  side  of  the  central  aisle.  The  men  sat  on 
one  side,  and  the  women  on  the  other.  Sometimes 
the  meeting-house  was  surrounded  by  palisades, 
with  a  sentinel  at  the  gate ;  and  the  people  used  it 
as  a  place  of  deposit  for  powder,  and  also  for  their 
most  valuable  possessions. 

Later,  the  meeting-houses  were  built  on  a  larger 
plan,  and  covered  with  boards  or  planks,  and  the 
roofs  were  shingled.  The  form  of  the  village  meet- 
ing-house, in  the  second  period  of  our  history,  was 
nearly  square,  with  a  roof  in  the  form  of  a  pyra- 
mid, crowned  with  a  steeple.  If  the  people  could 
afford  the  luxury  of  a  bell,  it  was  hung  in  the 
steeple,  and  the  bell-rope  hung  down  in  the  centre 

1  Ratio  Disciplinae. 


THE  EARLY  MINISTERS  OP  NEW  ENGLAND.         I4I 

of  the  audience-room.  The  sexton  used  to  stand 
half-way  between  the  principal  entrance  and  the 
pulpit,  when  he  rung  the  bell.  The  only  one  of 
these  Puritan  meeting-houses  now  in  use  is  the 
one  in  Hingham,  Massachusetts,  which  was  built 
in  1681.^  It  is  of  wood,  and  is  sixty-five  feet  by 
forty-five.  The  pulpit  stood  in  the  middle  of  the 
long  side.  The  galleries  were  on  three  sides. 
The  old  timbers  still  show  the  marks  of  the  axe, 
and  are  massive  enough  for  the  ribs  of  a  ship. 
This  ancient  meeting-house,  which  is  commonly 
called  the  Old  Ship,  is  now  a  well-furnished  and 
elegant  Unitarian  church.  The  churches  of  that 
time  in  New  Haven,  and  in  Milford,  Connecticut, 
in  Andover  and  West  Springfield,  Massachusetts, 
were  fine  specimens  of  this  type.  Of  similar 
form  was  the  third  edifice  of  the  First  Church  in 
Boston,  built  in  17 13,  and  occupied  by  that  con- 
gregation for  almost  a  century.^ 

That  style  of  church  architecture,  which  was 
followed  in  New  England  for  about  a  hundred 
years,  was  peculiar  to  the  Puritans.  The  churches 
in  the  old  country  with  which  they  were  familiar, 
were  much  like  the  churches  of  our  own  time  in 
form.  But  our  fathers  did  not  desire  to  repro- 
duce those  old  models  in  their  new  homes.     The 

1  For  a  view  of  this  ancient  Meeting-House,  as  it  is  at  the 
present  time,  see  the  plate  which  faces  page  1 17. 

2  Dr.  Dexter's  article  on  Meeting-Houses,  Congregational  Quar- 
terly, vol.  i.  186.  President  Porter's  article,  New  Englander,  1883, 
303. 


142      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


churches  of  England  had  been  built  while  that 
country  was  under  the  Romish  ritual.  They  had 
been  used  for  the  Mass,  and  could  easily  be 
adapted  to  the  services  of  the  old  Church.  The 
Puritans  made  it  a  point  to  avoid  whatever  could 
be  suggestive  of  the  forms  of  worship  which  they 
disliked.  So  they  provided  buildings  spacious 
enough  to  accommodate  the  people,  and  plain 
enough  to  guard  against  ecclesiastical  pomp  and 
the  traditional  forms  of  worship.  Hence  that 
style  of  building,  which  was  once  common  in  all 
parts  of  New  England,  that  used  to  be  called  the 
"  barn  meeting-house."  Its  original  form,  before 
porches  and  the  steeple  were  added,  was  a  perfectly 
plain  structure,  almost  square,  without  a  chimney 
or  anything  to  mark  it  as  a  place  of  worship.  It  had 
doors  on  three  sides,  with  two,  sometimes  three, 
rows  of  windows.  The  principal  door  was  placed 
in  the  middle  of  one  of  the  long  sides,  the  pulpit 
being  in  the  middle  of  the  opposite  side.  The 
side-doors  were  placed  in  the  middle  of  each  of 
the  ends.  Galleries  were  built  on  three  sides. 
The  pulpit  was  high,  and  was  overhung  by  the 
sounding-board,  suspended  from  the  bare  and 
unpainted  rafters  by  a  slender  iron  rod.  This 
sounding-board  looked  not  unlike  a  huge  extin- 
guisher, made  ready  to  drop  upon  the  head  of  any 
preacher  who  should  prove  unfaithful  to  his  trust.-^ 

1  The    sounding-board   was   borrowed   from   the    churches  of 
Europe,  where  it  is  still  common. 


THE  EARLY  MINISTERS  OP  NEW  ENGLAND.         1 43 


The  people  were  seated,  in  the  early  days,  on 
rough  benches,  the  men  and  women  on  opposite 
sides.  Pews  were  not  provided  at  first.  Now 
and  then  a  special  vote  was  passed  by  the  town 
authorizing  some  person  to  build  a  pew  in  the 
meeting-house  at  his  own  expense.  Squares  on 
the  floor,  about  six  feet  by  six,  were  deeded  to 
individuals,  on  which  they  erected  pews  to  suit 
themselves.  Later,  it  was  customary  to  require 
the  pews  to  be  built  "  with  wainscot  worke,  and 
all  of  a  kind.''  These  pews  were  apt  to  be  set 
up  next  the  wall,  or  in  front  of  the  pulpit.  Some- 
times they  had  curtains,  which  screened  the  occu- 
pants from  view.  The  pews  gradually  encroached 
upon  the  open  spaces,  until  the  practice  was 
adopted  of  providing  pews  for  all  the  congrega- 
tion. With  permanent  pews  came  the  practice 
of  seating  families  together.  The  pews  were 
large  and  high,  with  seats  on  four  sides,  because 
the  average  Puritan  family  was  numerous. 

A  committee  was  appointed  to  assign  seats  in 
the  meeting-house.  This  was  called  dignifying 
the  seats,  because  they  were  assigned  according 
to  the  social  position,  or  the  wealth  of  ^^  ^ 

^  The  Pews. 

the  occupants.    The  best  seat  was  some- 
times assigned  to  the  man  who  paid  the  highest 
tax   in    the    parish.      Sometimes  the    committee 
were  instructed  "  to  have  respect  unto  them  that 
are  fifty  years    old   and    upwards,  others    to    be 


144      ^^^  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

seated  according  their  pay."  In  one  instance,  we 
have  a  record  that  the  committee  was  instructed 
"  to  have  respect  to  age,  office,  and  estate,  so  far 
as  it  tendeth  to  make  a  man  respectable,  and  to 
everything  else  that  hath  the  same  tendency." 

A  third  modification  in  the  form  of  the  meet- 
ing-house was  adopted  in  what  may  be  called  the 
third  period  of   New   Eno^land   history. 

The  Meeting-      ,  /         ,  ,  -^  ^  ^^  ^        \ 

House  of  the     As    the    danger    trom    ropery   did  not 

Third  Period.  ^  r    ,-,  ,       -,  ».  'i. 

seem  to  our  fathers  to  be  so  great  as  it 
had  appeared  to  be  in  the  beginning,  they  were 
disposed  to  build  their  houses  of  worship  much 
nearer  the  traditional  type  of  a  Christian  church, 
a  form  borrowed  perhaps  from  the  Roman  basilica. 
The  ground  plan  was  no  longer  square,  but  oblong. 
The  steeple  was  placed  at  the  front  end,  and  usu- 
ally projected  a  little  from  the  main  building. 
The  pulpit  was  commonly,  though  not  always,  at 
the  end  opposite  the  main  entrance.  The  ample 
galleries  were  still  on  three  sides  of  the  audience- 
room,  and  were  provided  with  pews.  There  were 
double  rows  of  windows,  on  three  sides.  At  the 
end  where  the  pulpit  was  placed,  there  was  one 
window,  larger  than  the  others,  and  arched  at  the 
top.  The  pulpit  was  still  far  above  the  pews, 
with  the  sounding-board  above  it. 

One  of  the  oldest  examples  of  this  style,  now  in 
constant  use,  is  Christ  Church  in  Salem  Street, 
Boston,  built  in  1723.      This  church  has  two  gal- 


THE  EARLY  MINISTERS  OP  NEW  ENGLAND.         1 45 

leries,  the  upper  of  which  is  still  called  "  the  slaves' 
gallery."  A  much  finer  specimen  is  the  Old  South 
Meeting-House,  on  Washington  Street,  Boston, 
erected  in  1729.  The  First  Church  in  Spring- 
field, the  First  in  Westfield,  and  the  Old  South 
in  Windsor,  Vermont,  are  fine  examples  of  this 
style.  This  became  the  common  form  for  a  Con- 
gregational place  of  worship,  in  the  later  years  of 
the  last  century  and  the  first  half  of  the  present 
century.  Some  of  these  old  buildings  have  been 
changed  in  recent  years,  but  they  are  easily  recog- 
nized, by  an  experienced  observer,  as  belonging  to 
the  type  of  the  later  Puritan  age.  It  is  character- 
istic of  these  buildings,  that  they  are  all  admirably 
adapted  to  their  purpose  as  places  for  preaching 
the  Gospel.  They  can  accommodate  a  larger 
number  of  people  than  buildings  of  other  forms. 
The  pulpit  is  still  the  central  object,  and  the  occu- 
pants of  every  pew  are  in  view  of  the  preacher. 

The  old  meeting-houses  of  New  England  em- 
bodied the  ideas  of  the  Puritan  ministers.  There 
were  few  professional  architects  in  the  new 
country,  and  in  many  instances  the  meeting-house 
was  planned  by  the  minister.  The  plainness  and 
simplicity  of  those  places  of  worship  suited  the 
worshippers.  Our  fathers  would  have  felt  uncom- 
fortable in  a  beautiful  Gothic  church,  such  as  those 
in  which  they  had  worshipped  while  in  England. 
The  plain  meeting-house  was  in  harmony  with  the 


146       THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

way  of  worship  which  they  had  chosen.  If  the 
pulpits  were  high,  it  was  because  the  ministers 
were  expected  to  stand  far  above  the  people,  and 
to  be  shining  examples  of  Protestant  principles. 
They  would  have  been  afraid  of  low  pulpits,  lest 
they  might  tend  toward  Popery  and  the  service  of 
the  Mass. 

The  meeting-house  was  never  lighted  except  by 

the  sun,  until  singing-schools,  at  a  comparatively 

late  period,  made  it  necessary  to  intro- 

Lighting  and  ^  .  ... 

warmingofthe  duce  candles.     Night  meetmgs  m  the 

Meeting-House.  , .         ,  •  i  i  'i. 

meetmg-house  were  considered  quite 
improper;  and  the  Puritan  ministers  would  have 
thought  candles  too  suggestive  of  the  superstitions 
of  the  Church  of  Rome.  There  were  no  fireplaces, 
or  stoves,  or  other  means  of  warming  those  old 
meeting-houses  for  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  after 
the  Colony  was  planted.^  This  is  not  so  strange 
as  it  seems,  for  the  churches  and  cathedrals  in 
Europe  were  not  warmed  until  a  time  compara- 
tively recent.  Our  forefathers  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  worship  in  cold  churches  in  the  Mother 
Country.^    Still  those  cold  places  of  worship  must 

1  Dr.  Dexter  says  :  "  The  first  church  stove  which  I  have  seen 
mentioned  in  Massachusetts  was  in  the  First  Church  in  Boston, 
1773'"  There  is,  however,  a  suggestion  of  an  earlier  one  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  First  Church  in  Newton. 

2  Any  traveller  can  verify  these  statements.  The  old  stone  church 
in  Grasmere,  e.g.  where  Wordsworth  was  accustomed  to  worship  for 
many  years,  has  not  to  this  day  a  chimney.     It  is  not  many  years 


THE  EARLY  MINISTERS  OP  NEW  ENGLAND.         1 4/ 

have  been  severe  tests  of  the  zeal  and  fidelity  of 
the  worshippers.  President  Porter  remarks,  "  The 
breath  of  the  worshippers  of  a  cold  winter  morning 
would  not  unfrequently  seem  like  smoke  from  a 
hundred  furnaces,  as  it  came  in  contact  with  the 
frosty  atmosphere.  The  walls,  which  had  been 
almost  congealed  into  ice  by  the  fierce  north- 
westers of  the  preceding  week,  would  strike  a  chill 
of  death  into  the  frame  of  many  in  the  congrega- 
tion, who  had  come  ploughing  through  unbroken 
roads  and  unswept  walks."  ^  "  Herein  is  the 
patience  of  the  saints." 

VII. 

Of  course  the  Puritan  ministers  regarded  the 
public  worship  of  God  on  the  Lord's-day  as  of  the 
first  importance.  The  people  were  ex-  p^tjuc 
emplary  in  their  attendance,  and  the  laws  worship, 
which  they  enacted  required  all  persons  within 
their  jurisdiction  to  go  regularly  to  the  religious 
services.  To  neglect  this,  exposed  the  neglector 
to  a  heavy  fine.^    These  laws  were  not  peculiar  to 

since  the  first  stoves  were  introduced  into  that  church,  and  the  smoke 
pipes  are  still  carried  through  the  roof.  This  is  not  uncommon  in 
the  parish  churches  of  England.  The  heating  apparatus  in  the  great 
abbeys  and  cathedrals  is  so  modern  that  it  contrasts  strangely  with 
the  other  work  of  the  interiors. 

1  Bibliotheca  Sacra,  1883,  310. 

2  General  Laws,  83.     Palfrey,  vol.  ii.  33;  vol.   iii.  49.     Mass. 
Records,  vol.  iii.  317.     Felt,  vol.  ii.  453. 


148      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

New  England.  The  laws  of  Virginia  made  the 
same  requirement.  So  did  the  laws  of  England. 
This  was  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  that  age. 
It  was  even  provided  by  the  laws  of  Massachusetts 
that  on  the  recurrence  of  the  mid-week  lectures, 
all  innkeepers  and  victuallers  within  one  mile 
from  the  meeting-house  should  clear  their  houses 
during  the  time  of  service  of  all  persons  able  to  go 
to  meeting.  It  was  also  provided  that  any  person 
who  should  smoke  tobacco  within  two  miles  from 
the  meeting-house,  going  or  returning  from  public 
worship,  should  pay  a  fine  of  twelvepence.  So 
they  carried  out  the  injunction,  "  Keep  thy  foot 
when  thou  goest  to  the  house  of  God." 

The  Lord's-day  began  at  sunset  on  Saturday, 
according  to  the  laws  of  Connecticut.-^  But  the 
The  Lord's-  ^^^^^  of  Massacliusctts  provided  that 
day.  persons  employed  to  labor  might  stop 

w^ork  at  three  o'clock  Saturday  afternoon,  and 
spend  the  remainder  of  the  day  in  catechising  their 
children,  and  in  preparation  for  the  Sabbath.  Both 
these  enactments  imply  that  it  was  the  custom  to 
begin  the  Sabbath  on  the  evening  of  Saturday. 
The  early  ministers  of  New  England  regarded  the 
Sabbath  as  a  time  for  the  public  worship  of  God, 
and  for  religious  instruction.  The  people  came 
together  "  at  nine  of  the  clock,"  for  the  morning 
service.     In  the  early  times,   before   they  could 

1  Felt,  vol.  ii.  33.     Mass.  Records,  vol.  i.  395. 


THE  EARLY  MINISTERS  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         1 49 

afford  the  luxury  of  bells,  they  were  summoned 
by  the  beat  of  a  drum.  Sometimes  the  voice  of 
the  town-crier,  or  the  blowing  of  a  conch-shell,  or 
of  a  horn,  served  instead  of  the  drum.  The  old 
meeting-houses  were  crowded,  for  they  were  not 
too  large,  and  the  people  had  a  mind  to  go. 

Inside  the  doors,  the  most  conspicuous  object 
was  the  pulpit,  with  the  things  that  belonged  to 
it.  In  front  of  the  pulpit,  on  a  low  platform,  sat 
the  deacons,  facing  the  congregation.  On  a  plat- 
form a  little  higher  than  the  deacons  sat  the  rul- 
ing elders.  Above  them,  in  the  pulpit  itself,  sat 
the  two  ministers.  This  array  of  dignitaries,  some 
of  them,  at  least,  in  robes  of  office,  looked  down 
upon  the  congregation,  and  was  looked  up  to  by 
the  people.  "  Our  principal  care  and  desire,"  says 
John  Cotton,  "  is  to  administer  the  ordinances  of 
Christ  himselve  in  their  native  puritie.  The  order  of 
and  simplicitie,  without  any  dressing  or  Services, 
painting  of  human  inventions."  ^  And  so,  leaving 
the  traditional  forms  of  worship,  they  conducted 
the  services  in  this  wise :  — 

First,  "  the  bills  which  any  of  the  neighbors  put 
up,  desiring  a  remembrance  in  the  public  prayers 
and  praises  were  read." 

Then,  the  pastor  began  with  solemn  prayer, 
continuing  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour. 

After  this,  the  teacher  read  and  expounded  a 

1  Cotton's  Way  of  the  Churches. 


150     THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

chapter  in  the  Bible.  For  they  would  have  no 
reading  without  "  giving  the  sense."  This  expo- 
sition of  the  chapter  was  one  of  the  leading  parts 
of  the  service.  It  was  generally  a  very  thorough 
exposition,  and  continued  a  long  time.  It  was  one 
of  the  most  instructive  parts  of  the  service. 

Then  a  psalm  was  sung  by  the  congregation, 
"  whichever  one  of  the  ruling  elders  dictates."  ^ 
In  some  churches,  though  not  in  all,  it  was  the  cus- 
tom for  the  elder  to  read  the  psalm,  line  by  line,^  in 
order  that  those  who  were  not  provided  with  books 
might  be  able  to  join  in  the  singing.  No  instru- 
.     mental  music  was  allowed  in  the  Puritan 

Church  Music. 

churches,  partly  because  such  music  was 
very  prominent  in  the  services  of  the  prelatical 
churches,  and  partly  because  it  was  believed  to 

^  Lechford,  Plain  Dealing,  44. 

2  From  the  beginning  of  the  Reformation,  the  singing  of  psalms 
and  hymns,  by  the  people,  was  made  a  prominent  part  of  the  pub- 
lic services  of  religion.  It  has  been  said,  that  the  Reformation 
among  the  German  people  was  advanced  quite  as  much  by  Luther's 
hymns,  as  by  his  sermons.  Our  fathers  brought  to  New  England 
a  version  of  the  Psalter  made  by  Ainsworth  of  Amsterdam,  which 
they  used  in  their  religious  services  for  many  years.  About  1640, 
the  Bay  Psalm  Book  was  introduced  into  the  churches.  This  was 
prepared  by  some  New  England  ministers,  among  whom  were 
Mather  of  Dorchester,  President  Dunster  of  Harvard  College,  Weld 
and  Eliot  of  Roxbury.  This  was  in  use  for  about  a  century,  passing 
through  seventy  editions.  It  did  not  contain  the  Te  Deum,  or  the 
Gloria  in  Excelsis,  but  it  did  contain  a  metrical  version  of  the 
Psalms,  the  Song  of  Solomon,  and  the  Lamentations  of  Jeremiah. 

In  1693,  an  edition  of  Sternhold  and  Hopkins  was  published  in 
Cambridge,  and  was  used  in  the  churches  to  some  extent. 


THE  EARLY  MINISTERS  OP  NEW  ENGLAND.         151 

be  contrary  to  the  word  of  God.^  But  the  people 
were  able  to  sing  the  few  tunes  that  were  in  use  in 
the  English  churches  when  they  came  over.  Cot- 
ton Mather,  who  is  a  good  authority  upon  such  a 
matter,  states  that  "their  way  of  singing  was  not 
with  disorderly  clamors,  but  in  such  grave  tunes 
as  are  most  used  in  our  nation  :  it  has  been  com- 
mended by  strangers,  as  melodious  and  agreeable : 
—  more  than  a  score  of  tunes  are  heard  regularly 
sung  in  our  assemblies.  The  churches  of  New 
England  admit  not  into  their  public  services  any 
other  than  the  Psalms,  Hymns,  and  Spiritual  Songs 
of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  faithfully  trans- 
lated into  English  metre.  They  did  not  favor  the 
Te  Deum,  or  any  merely  human  composition."^ 

1  Amos,  V.  23. 

2  Ratio  Disciplinae,  54-56.     Palfrey,  vol.  ii.  41. 

"  The  early  settlers  of  New  England,"  says  Rev.  Mr.  Symmes, 
"  used  to  sing  by  note,  and  there  are  many  now  living  who  learned 
to  sing  from  their  forefathers."  Music  was  studied  in  Harvard 
College  for  many  years  after  it  was  founded,  and  the  ministers 
educated  there  were  taught  to  sing.  The  music  used  in  churches 
was  written  in  their  Psalm-books.  The  number  of  tunes  thus 
written  rarely  exceeded  five  or  six.  The  music  was  taken  from 
Ravenscroft's  collection,  published  in  England  in  1618,  which  was 
the  standard  book  for  the  churches  in  England  and  America  for  a 
long  time.  About  1690,  music  began  to  be  printed  in  this  country, 
appended  to  the  Psalm-book.  Some  of  the  tunes  thus  printed  were 
Litchfield,  Canterbury,  York,  Windsor,  Cambridge,  St.  David's, 
Martyrs,  Hackney,  and  Old  Hundredth.  They  were  printed  in  two 
parts  only,  and  were  accompanied  by  a  few  simple  directions  for 
singing. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  first  century  of  New  England  history,  the 


152      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


Our  fathers  did  not  favor  church  choirs.  The 
singing  was  by  the  congregation  for  the  larger 
part  of  the  first  century. 

After  the  psahii  came  the  sermon  by  the  pastor. 
This  was  the  great  feature  of  the  service.  Its 
length  was  measured  by  the  hour-glass,  which 
commonly  stood  on  the  pulpit.  The  minister 
turned  the  glass  when  he  began  his  sermon  ;  and 
he  was  expected,  on  ordinary  occasions,  to  draw 
his  discourse  to  a  close  when  the  last  sands  were 

decline  in  church  music  had  become  very  perceptible.  The  culti- 
vation of  music  had  been  neglected,  and  at  the  commencement  of 
the  eighteenth  century  few  congregations  were  able  to  sing  more 
than  three  or  four  tunes.  The  knowledge  and  use  of  notes  had  been 
long  neglected,  so  that  the  few  melodies  in  use  became  corrupted, 
until  no  two  individuals  sang  them  alike.  "  Every  melody  was  tor- 
tured and  twisted,"  says  an  old  writer,  "until  the  psalms  were  uttered 
in  a  medley  of  confused  noises,  rather  than  in  a  decorous  song." 
"  It  is  with  great  difficulty  that  this  part  of  worship  is  performed, 
and  with  great  indecency  in  some  congregations,  for  want  of  skill." 

About  1720,  a  reformation  was  inaugurated.  The  ministers  as 
usual  took  the  lead,  and  preached  and  published  excellent  discourses 
upon  the  subject.  Singing-schools  were  commenced  about  this  time, 
and  sacred  music  was  taught  by  competent  teachers.  From  these 
schools  came  church  choirs.  The  objections  to  the  use  of  instru- 
ments of  music  in  church  services  were  gradually  overcome.  This 
reform  however  was  vigorously  opposed.  The  question  whether  it 
was  better  to  sing  by  note,  or  to  sing  by  rote,  was  hotly  debated. 
In  some  places  the  discussion  was  so  warm  as  to  interrupt  the  har- 
mony of  the  churches.  Several  ecclesiastical  councils  were  con- 
vened during  the  first  half  of  the  last  century  to  consider  that 
question.  In  the  end,  the  better  methods  of  singing  were  gen- 
erally adopted,  and  musical  cultivation  in  this  country  was  rapidly 
advanced. 

History  of  IMusic  in  New  England,  by  George  Hood;  Palfrey, 
vol.  ii.  40. 


THE  EARLY  MINISTERS  OP  NEW  ENGLAND.         1 53 

running  out  from  the  glass.  Yet  there  were  in- 
stances when  the  glass  was  turned  two  or  three 
times.  To  quote  again,  one  of  the  old  writers, 
"  The  pastor,  bespeaking  attention,  reads  a  text, 
longer  or  shorter,  as  he  pleases,  from  the  sacred 
Scriptures  ;  and  then  makes  a  sermon. 

XT-  1-  ir  Ti  -1  Sermons  of 

He  gives  hmiseli  a  liberty,  either  to  the  Puritan 
preach  over  a  Body  of  Divinity,  in  order, 
or  to  handle  such  doctrines  and  cases  as  he  may 
judge  most  necessary.  Care  was  taken  not  to 
weary  the  hearers,  so  that  they  should  be  dull  at 
the  evening  assembly;  so  that  ministers  generally 
limited  themselves  unto  about  one  hour."  ^ 

The  sermons  of  the  early  ministers  of  New 
England  were  not  written,  although  they  were 
carefully  prepared.  It  is  said  that  Mr.  Wareham 
of  Dorchester  was  the  first  who  used  written  ser- 
mons in  New  England.  But  in  the  time  of 
Cotton  Mather  the  use  of  written  sermons  had 
become  common. 

The  sermon  being  finished,  the  teacher  makes 
a  shorter  prayer.  After  the  prayer,  another  psalm 
was  sung. 

After  these  services  of  worship  and  of  instruc- 
tion were  concluded,  baptism  was  admin-   ^  ^ 

^  Baptism  and 

istered  to  children  who  were  presented   the  Lord's 
by  their  Christian  parents.     It  was  com- 
mon to  insist  that  all  such  baptisms  should  be 
in  the  meeting-house,  and  in  the  presence  of  the 

1  Ratio  DiscipliniE,  SSSI- 


154      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

congregation.  In  most  instances  the  children 
were  presented  within  seven  days  from  their  birth, 
though  they  were  sometimes  presented  earlier. 

Once  a  month,  the  Sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  was  administered,  in  connection  with  the 
morning  services.  It  was  very  simple,  conforming 
to  the  words  of  the  New  Testament.  The  min- 
isters, with  the  other  officers  of  the  church,  were 
seated  at  the  table.  After  the  prayer  of  conse- 
cration, the  ministers  handed  the  elements,  first 
to  those  seated  with  them  at  the  table,  after  which 
they  w^ere  passed  to  the  deacons,  who  distributed 
them  to  the  communicants.  They  received  them 
sittino^  in  their  usual  seats.  The  minister  who 
had  not  offered  the  prayer  of  consecration  prayed 
after  the  elements  had  been  passed.  Then  a 
psalm  was  sung,  and  the  people  were  dismissed 
with  the  benediction. 

This  completed  the  morning  services.  The 
intermission  was  longer  or  shorter,  according  to 
the  convenience  of  the  people,  though  the  more 
common  hour  for  the  evening  service  was  two 
o'clock.  At  this  service,  the  pastor  began  with 
prayer,  as  in  the  morning.  Then  a  psalm  was 
sung  by  the  congregation.  The  minister  who 
had  preached  in  the  morning,  expounded  the 
chapter  in  the  afternoon,  and  the  one  who  had 
expounded  in  the  morning,  preached  in  the  after- 
noon.   After  the  sermon  another  psalm  was  sung. 


THE  EARLY  MINISTERS  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         155 


When  this  was  ended,  one  of  the  deacons  arose 
and  said :  "  Brethren  of  the  congregation,  now 
there  is  time  left  for  contribution :  Wherefore,  as 
God  hath  prospered  you,  freely  offer.  Then  they 
bring  their  offering  to  the  deacon  at  his  seat,  and 
put  it  into  a  box  of  wood  for  the  pur- 

'c     ',     ^  T^r     .      The  Of f erings 

pose,  it  it  be  money  or  papers.  If  it  in  the 
be  any  other  articles,  they  set  it,  or  lay  ^^^^^• 
it  down,  before  the  deacons,  and  so  pass  another 
way  to  their  seats  again.  In  coming  forward, 
they  are  careful  to  have  the  Magistrates,  and 
chiefe  Gentlemen  first,  and  then  the  Elders,  and 
all  the  congregation  of  men,  and  most  of  them 
that  are  not  of  the  church,  all  single  persons, 
widows,  and  women  in  absence  of  their  husbands." 
"I  have  seen,"  says  Lechford,  "a  faire  gilt  cup 
with  a  cover  offered  there  by  one,  which  is  still 
used  at  the  Communion.  These  moneys,  and 
goods,  the  deacons  dispose  towards  the  mainte- 
nance of  the  ministers,  and  the  poore  of  the 
church,  and  the  church's  occasions."  The  con- 
tribution finished,  there  follows  the  admission  of 
members  to  the  church,  or  hearing  matters  of 
offence,  or  other  things,  sometimes  till  it  is  very 
late.  They  sing  a  psalm  at  the  close,  and  the 
pastor  concludeth  with  a  prayer  and  a  blessing.^ 

1  The  materials  for  this  account  of  the  way  of  worship  of  our 
fathers  are  derived  from  John  Cotton,  Lechford,  Winthrop,  Cotton 
Mather,  and  some  others. 


IK6      the  puritan  in  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


VIII. 

There  was  a  mid-week  lecture  in  many  of  the 

churches.     This  was  conducted  much  like  one  of 

the    services  on    the   Lord's-day.      The 
The  -^ 

Mid-week  pcoplc  Were  expected  to  attend  it,  as 
they  were  to  attend  on  the  Sabbath.  In 
Boston,  and  some  other  towns,  the  lecture  was  on 
Thursday ;  but  it  might  be  on  any  day  of  the 
week,  so  that  in  sections  where  the  churches 
were  not  far  apart,  the  people  had  the  opportunity 
to  hear  the  word  preached  every  day.  When  John 
Norton  was  pastor  of  the  Church  in  Boston,  his 
reputation  for  eloquence  and  piety  was  so  great 
that  people  used  .to  come  from  the  adjoining 
towns,  sometimes  even  from  places  as  far  away 
as  Ipswich,  to  hear  him.  In  1639,  there  were  so 
many  lectures,  and  so  many  persons  neglected 
their  business  for  the  purpose  of  attending  them, 
going  often  two  or  three  days  in  a  week,  that  the 
General  Court  sought  a  conference  with  the  elders 
"  to  consider  about  the  length  and  frequency  of 
church  assemblies,"  lest  they  should  seriously 
interrupt  the  work  of  the  people. 

The  old  writers  make  frequent  references  to 
these  week-day  lectures.  John  Cotton  was  preach- 
ing a  series  of  expository  lectures  upon  the  Book 
of  Revelation,  on  Thursdays,  about   1640.     This 


THE  EARLY  MINISTERS  OP  NEW  ENGLAND.         1 57 

series  extended  through  several  years,  and  parts 
of  it  were  published  in  London,  from  notes  taken 
by  one  of  his  hearers.  It  was  the  method  of 
Mr.  Cotton  in  all  his  preaching  to  go  through  the 
books  of  Scripture  in  the  way  of  exposition,  and 
it  is  stated  that  in  the  course  of  his  ministry  he 
had  expounded  almost  every  one  of  the  books  of 
the  Bible.' 

There  are  records,  more  or  less  complete,  of 
the  parochial  work  of  the  early  ministers.  In 
1 64 1,  the  General  Court  requested  the  xneirParo- 
elders  to  "  make  a  Chatechisme  for  the  <^^^work. 
instruction  of  youth  in  the  grounds  of  religion."^ 
"  Milk  for  Babes,"  by  John  Cotton,  was  used  for 
more  than  a  century,  and  it  was  always  printed 
in  the  earlier  editions  of  the  "  New  England 
Primer."  Its  full  title  was  "  Spiritual  Milk  for 
American  Babes  drawn  out  of  the  Breasts  of 
Both  Testaments  for  Their  Souls'  Nourishment." 
Later,  the  "Westminster  Shorter  Catechism"  was 
introduced ;  and  this  supplemented  the  less  ambi- 
tious teaching  of  Mr.  Cotton.  Some  of  the 
pastors  were  wont  to  catechise  the  young  people 
on  the  LordVday,  in  the  afternoon,  before  the 
sermon.     Others  gathered  the  children  at  their 

1  Cotton,  Way  of  the  Churches.  Winlhrop's  History  of 
New  England,  i.  324  (foho  p.  390)-  Lechford,  51,  notes.  Cotton 
Mather,  Ratio  Disciplinae,  63. 

2  Records  of  the  Colony  of  Massachusetts,  vol.  i.  328. 


158      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


own  houses,  on  some  week-day,  for  the  same  pur- 
pose. Others  went  from  house  to  house  to  cate- 
chise the  children.  There  were  also  more  public 
recitations  of  the  catechism.  So  that  the  careful 
and  systematic  teaching  of  religious  truth  to  the 
young  was  a  great  part  of  the  work  of  the  early 
ministers. 

The  visiting  of  the  sick,  and  of  the  aged  and 
infirm,  and  the  pastoral  care  of  the  families  that 
made  up  the  congregation,  was  then,  as  now,  a 
great  part  of  the  work  of  the  ministers.  Those 
visits  were  more  formal  and  professional  than 
such  visits  are  in  our  times.  But  there  is  abun- 
dant evidence  that  they  were  full  of  kindness 
as  well  as  fidelity,  and  that  they  supplemented  in 
an  admirable  way  the  other  parts  of  pastoral 
labor.^ 

IX. 

The  churches  that  were  organized  by  the  Pilgrim 
ministers  were  strictly  Independent  Churches. 
The  Pilgrims  had  followed  that  way  at  Scrooby, 
and  in  Holland,  and  they  naturally  organized  the 
Church  in  Plymouth  according  to  their  old  models. 
The  Puritans,  after  a  little  time,  adopted  the  same 
model. 

Within  four  weeks  after  the  arrival  of  Higgin- 
son  and  Skelton  at  Salem,  in  1629,  a  day  was  set 

1  Cotton  Mather's  Ratio  Disciplinas,  106-111. 


THE  EARLY  MINISTERS  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         1  59 

apart  for  the  choice  of  a  pastor  and  a  teacher. 
Mr.  Skelton  was  chosen  pastor,  and  Mr.  Higgin- 
son  teacher.  Mr.  Higginson,  and  three  or  four  of 
the  gravest  men,  laid  their  hands  on  Mr.  Skelton  s 
head,  and  prayed.  So  he  was  inducted  into  his 
office  as  pastor.  Then,  by  a  similar  religious 
service,  Mr.  Higginson  was  set  apart  for  his  office 
as  teacher,  Mr.  Skelton  laying  his  hands  upon  his 
head.  After  this  had  been  done,  Mr. 
Higginson  drew  up  a  Confession  of  Earuestor- 
Faith,  and    a   Church    Covenant;    and    ^^^t  • 

'  Churcnes  m 

copies  of  the    same   were    delivered   to    ^^ 

j-  ^  England. 

thirty  persons  who  were  to  constitute 
the  church.  Messengers  were  sent  to  Plymouth 
to  ask  the  Pilgrim  Church  in  that  place  to  send 
delegates  to  witness  the  further  proceedings.  At 
the  day  appointed  the  two  ministers  prayed  and 
preached ;  thirty  persons  assented  to  the  Articles 
of  Faith  and  Covenant ;  the  ministers  were  again 
ordained,  by  the  imposition  of  the  hands  of  some 
of  the  brethren  appointed  by  the  newly  organized 
church.  Governor  Bradford  and  the  other  mes- 
sengers from  the  Church  in  Plymouth  gave  to  the 
new  church  the  hand  of  fellowship,  and  thus  the 
second  church  in  New  England  was  organized. 
The  other  churches  within  the  Puritan  Colony 
were  organized  in  a  similar  way.-^ 

^  Morton's  New  England  Memorial,   99.     Prince's  History  of 
New  England  (edition  of  1736),  91-92. 


l60      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

In  the  first  generation  of  New  England  history, 
a  church  which  was  fully  equipped  had  two  min- 
isters, one  the  pastor,  and  the  other  the  teacher. 
Both  of  them  were  preachers.  Both  were  called 
elders,  and  both  were  authorized  to  administer 
the  Sacraments.  The  special  function  of  the 
pastor  was  public  and  private  exhortation,  and 
that  of  the  teacher  was  doctrinal  and  biblical 
explanation.  In  practice,  the  two  offices  were 
much  the  same,  the  pastor  preaching  one  part  of 
the  day,  and  expounding  the  other,  and  the 
teacher  also  preaching  once,  and  expounding 
once  each  Lord's-day.  The  pastor  was,  however, 
the  leading  officer  of  the  church.  Both  gave 
themselves  to  parochial  work.  Each  church  had, 
also,  one  or  more  ruling  elders,  who  shared  with 
the  ministers  the  responsibility  for  the  discipline 
of  the  church.  The  church  had  also  one  or  more 
deacons,  who  had  charge  of  the  finances  of  the 
church,  and  of  providing  for  the  poor.  In  later 
times,  however,  this  large  number  of  officers,  sug- 
gested perhaps  by  the  various  ranks  in  the  min- 
istry of  the  Episcopal  Church,  was  found  to  be 
unnecessary.  The  offices  of  pastor  and  teacher 
were  united  in  a  single  minister,  and  the  ruling 
elders  were  dispensed  with.-^ 

People  in  the  Episcopal  Church  have  some- 
times questioned  the  validity  of   Non-Episcopal 

1  Cotton's  Way  of  the  Churches.     Lechford's  Plain  Dealing. 


THE  EARLY  MINISTERS  OP  NEW  ENGLAND.  l6l 

ordination.  But  among  the  Puritans,  the  ques- 
tion was  whether  Episcopal  ordination  was  valid. 
They  held  that  the  only  valid  call  to  the  ministry 
was  the  call  of  Christ  through  a  congregation  of 
His  people.  So  that,  although  their  ministers 
had  been  ordained  years  before,  by  the  bishops 
and  presbyters  of  the  Church  of  England,  they, 
held  that  their  office  had  terminated  with  the  end 
of  their  pastorate.  The  doctrine  of  the  perma- 
nence of  the  office  of  the  ministry,  aside  from  the 
pastorate  of  a  local  church,  they  held  to  be 
nothing  short  of  a  Romish  heresy.  One  who 
ceased  to  be  a  pastor  was  no  longer  a  minister. 
He  could  enter  the  ministry  again  only  by  the 
call  of  a  church,  and  a  new  ordination.  So 
that  it  was  not  so  much  a  disowning  of  Episcopal 
ordination,  as  the  opinion  that  the  validity  of  the 
ordination  had  passed  away  when  the  pastorate 
ended.  If  the  call  of  the  church  was  the  only 
true  call  to  the  ministry,  it  followed  that  it  was 
proper  for  the  church  to  set  apart  the  man  of 
their  choice  to  the  sacred  office. 

They  also  limited  the  functions  of  the  pastor 
by  the  bounds  of  his  parish.  It  was  provided  by 
law,  in  Massachusetts,  that  if  any  minister  should 
preach,  or  administer  the  Sacraments,  outside  his 
own  parish,  except  by  the  invitation  of  the  settled 
minister  of  that  place,  he  should  lose  his  salary. 
It  w^as  also  provided,  by  law,  that  if  any  person. 


1 62       THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

not  a  settled  minister,  should  exhort  in  any 
parish,  without  the  invitation  of  the  pastor,  and 
a  majority  of  the  congregation,  he  should  be  put 
under  bonds  of  one  hundred  pounds  to  keep  the 
peace.  The  practice  of  private  members  speak- 
ing in  religious  assemblies,  without  a  special  in- 
vitation from  the  ofhcers  of  the  church,  was  not 
encouraged.^  So  carefully  did  the  Puritan  legis- 
lature protect  the  privileges  of  the  settled 
ministers !  It  is  even  related  of  a  Puritan  min- 
ister, who  was  making  a  voyage  across  the 
Atlantic,  that  when  he  was  asked  to  baptize  a 
child,  which  was  at  the  point  of  death,  he  de- 
clined to  do  it,  because,  as  he  said,  there  was  no 
regular  congregation  worshipping  in  that  place. 


X. 

It  only  remains  to  speak  of  the  mistakes  of  the 
early  Puritan  ministers.  They  were  laying  foun- 
dations. They  were  the  builders  of  states.  They 
had  few  precedents  to  guide  them.  It  is  not  sur- 
prising that  they  made  mistakes.  Those  mistakes 
stand  out  distinctly  in  their  history.  It  is  easy  to 
overrate  them.  Some  recent  writers  have  given 
so  much  prominence  to  these  mistakes  that  they 
have  failed  to   do  justice  to  the   Puritan    spirit 

1  Lechford's  Plain  Dealing,  12-16,  and  43,  note.  Palfrey,  vol. 
ii.  39. 


THE  EARLY  MINISTERS  OP  NEW  ENGLAND.  1 63 

and  work.  Those  mistakes  were  the  mistakes  of 
great  men,  and  of  sincere  and  honest  men.  Their 
honesty  was  shown  in  their  readiness  to  correct 
their  errors. 

The  Puritan  ministers  were  limited  by  their 
environment,  as  we  are  by  ours.  They  lived  in 
times  of  conflict;  and  it  was  their  mis-  The  Mistakes 
sion  to  stand  for  the  truth,  and  to  suffer  ^^^^^'^"^3. 
for  it,  as  the  heroes  of  faith.  Their  ters. 
fidelity  to  the  truth  made  them  positive  men. 
Such  men  are  liable  to  push  a  point  too  far. 
They  were  not  far  enough  from  the  experiences 
of  persecution  to  give  a  hospitable  reception  to 
the  new  truth  that  was  breaking  from  the  Word 
of  God.  It  is  too  much  to  require  that  the  opin- 
ions and  the  methods  of  such  men  should  be  up  to 
the  standard  of  the  last  decade  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  But  the  Puritan  ministers,  with  all 
their  limitations,  were  men  of  remarkable  good 
sense.  If  they  made  mistakes,  they  had  enough 
of  Anglo-Saxon  sagacity  to  discover  and  correct 
them.  They  made  progress  in  building  the 
Church  and  the  state  in  the  New  World  by  recti- 
fying their  errors. 

For  example,  in  the  earlier  years  of  the 
Colony  of  Massachusetts,  they  would  have  no 
public  reading  of  the  Bible,  unless  accompanied 
by  an  exposition.  The  reason  was,  that  it  was 
important,    at    that    time,    to    guard    against    a 


1 64      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND.' 


tendency  to  a  formal  and  perfunctory  service  in 
public  worship.  They  would  have  the  reader 
o-ive  the  sense,  that  the  worship  might  be  intelli- 
o-ent.  But  in  the  course  of  time  they  learned 
that  it  was  quite  possible  to  read  the  Scriptures 
intelligently,  and  devotionally,  without  an  exposi- 
tion ;  so  that,  before  the  close  of  the  century,  the 
custom  of  reading  the  Scriptures  in  pubHc  worship, 
without  note  or  comment,  had  become  common.^ 
Another  illustration  of  the  progressive  spirit 
of  the  Puritan  ministers  is  found  in  the  history 
^ ,  „  of  their  method  of  conducting^  the  ser- 

Their  Progres-  ^ 

sive  Spirit.  viccs  at  fuucrals.  They  would  have 
nothing  that  was  suggestive  of  prayers  for  the 
dead.  One  of  the  old  Puritan  writers  said: 
"  All  prayers,  either  over  or  for  the  dead,  are  not 
only  superstitious  and  vain,  but  are  also  idolatry, 
and  against  the  plain  Scriptures  of  God."^  And 
so  the  old  ministers  would  not  consent,  on  any 
ground  of  sentiment  or  of  feeling,  to  follow  the 
English  customs  with  respect  to  funerals,  because 
they  apprehended  that  those  customs  tended 
toward  the  practices  of  the  Church  of  Rome. 
To  such  a  point  had  they  come  in  their  opposi- 
tion to  the  superstitions  of  that  Church,  that,  for 
many  years,  "  nothing  was   read  at  burials,  nor 

^  Ratio  Disciplinae,  6$. 

2  J.  Canne's  Necessity  of  Separation,  1634,  112.  Ratio  Disci- 
plinae, 117.     Lechford,  88. 


THE  EARLY  MINISTERS  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.  1 65 

any  funeral  sermon  made,  but  all  the  neighbor- 
hood, or  a  good  company  of  them,  came  together, 
by  the  tolling  of  the  bell,  and  carried  the  dead 
solemnly  to  his  grave,  and  then  stood  by  him 
while  he  was  buried.  The  ministers  were  most 
commonly  present,"  but  had  no  part.  But  all 
this  was  too  unnatural,  and  too  far  from  the  spirit 
of  the  New  Testament,  to  be  continued  by  such 
Christians  as  they  were.  So  that,  we  find,  as  their 
dread  of  the  prevalence  of  Romanism  became  less, 
they  gradually  adopted  the  funeral  customs  that 
have  been  common  among  Protestant  Christians. 
The  first  instance,  so  far  as  we  know,  of  prayer 
at  a  funeral,  in  Massachusetts,  was  at  the  burial 
of  Rev.  William  Adams,  of  Roxbury,  in  1685. 
Judge  Sewall  has  noted  in  his  diary,  that,  "  Mr. 
Wilson,  the  minister  at  Medfield,  prayed  with  the 
company  before  they  went  to  the  grave."  In  the 
earlier  years  of  the  eighteenth  century,  according 
to  Cotton  Mather,  it  had  come  to  be  the  ordinary 
practice  to  have  religious  services  at  funerals. 

The  celebration  of  marriage  was  also  by  a 
magistrate,  in  the  earlier  years  of  our  history. 
The  reason  was  that  the  Church  of  Rome  had 
exalted  marriage  to  the  rank  of  a  Sacrament. 
As  Protestants,  the  Puritans  made  their  protest 
against  this  as  emphatic  as  possible.  So  they 
treated  marriage  as  purely  a  civil  contract,  and 
sent  the  parties  who  were  to  be  married  from  the 


1 66      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

church  to  the  town-house.  The  ministers  were 
themselves  married  by  magistrates.  But  they 
were  in  error  in  saying  that  marriage  was  only 
a  civil  contract.  The  people  gradually  dropped 
this  extreme  theory,  and  began  to  connect  mar- 
riaQ:e  with  the  Church  and  its  relis^ious  services. 
By  the  time  of  Cotton  Mather,  marriage  was 
commonly  celebrated  by  the  pastors,  and  was 
recognized  as  an  institution  which  had  close  con- 
nections with  religion.  But  the  use  of  the  ring 
in  marriage  was  objected  to  for  many  years  more, 
as  a  Popish  superstition.-^ 

Our  Puritan  fathers  made  it  a  matter  of  con- 
science to  call  the  days  of  the  week  by  numerals, 
and  to  call  the  months  in  the  same  way,  as  the 
Quakers  do  to  this  day.  It  was  a  singular 
scruple  which  they  had,  and  it  had  its  origin 
amongst  the  Lollards,  and  the  Anabaptists,  from 
whom  the  Quakers  and  some  other  Protestant 
sects  came.  They  thought  it  was  giving  honor 
to  the  heathen  gods,  and  to  pagan  worship,  to 
call  their  days  Sunday,  or  Monday,  or  Tuesday, 
or  Wednesday,  or  to  call  their  months  January, 
or  March,  or  May.  But  while  this  scruple  has 
been  so  tenacious  among  the  Friends,  that  even 
Mr.  Whittier  continued  to  follow  it  as  long  as  he 

1  Felt,  vol.  i.  59.  Lechford,  Zd^  note.  Ratio  Disciplinas.  R.  C. 
Winthrop  says,  vol.  ii.  382,  "  The  earliest  record  of  a  marriage  by 
a  minister,  in  Massachusetts,  is  dated  16S6." 


THE  EARLY  MINISTERS  OP  NEW  ENGLAND.         16/ 


lived,  our  Puritan  fathers  had  laid  it  aside  before 
their  colonies  had  completed  their  first  century. 

The   Puritan  ministers  had  very  strong  preju- 
dices against  the  observance  of  the  ancient  fasts 
and  festivals  of  the  Christian  year.  The  observance 
of  Christmas  and  Easter  was  regarded  by  them 
as  "  one  of  the  earliest  apostacies  and  superstitions 
of  the  primitive  times."     They  would    have  no 
regularly  recurring  holy-days  except  the  Sabbath.^ 
And  yet,  as  deeply  religious  people,  they  felt  the 
need  of  such  days.     So  they  appointed  from  time 
to  time  Days  of  Fasting  and  Prayer,  at  the  season 
of  planting,  or  at  other  seasons ;  and,  after  the  har- 
vest had  been  gathered,  or  whenever  any  special 
blessing  had  been  given  to  them,  they  appointed 
Days  of  Thanksgiving.     The  observance  of  these 
days  was  required  by  law,  just  as  the  observance 
of  the  Sabbath  was  required.^    In  the  earlier  periods 
of  our  history,  these  days  were  religiously  observed. 
These  occasional  fasts  and  thanksgivings  long  ago 
became    stated  days.      The  objections  to  stated 
days  of  fasting  and  thanksgiving  have  been  over- 
come.    The  laws  which  forbade  the  observance 
of  Christmas  and  Easter  were  long  ago  repealed ; 
and  those  days  have  steadily  grown  in  favor  with 
the  best  people  among  the  sons  of  the  Puritans, 

1  Ratio  Disciplinae,  i86.     John  Cotton's  Way  of  the  Churches. 

2  Palfrey,  vol.  ii.  43,  44.    Fasts  and  Thanksgivings  of  New  Eng- 
land, by  W.  DeLoss  Love,  Jr.,  1895. 


1 68     THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

until  it  has  come  to  pass  that  the  Puritan  Thanks- 
giving itself  seems  to  be  giving  place  to  the 
Christmas  of  the  Christian  centuries,  and  the 
annual  Fast-day  has  already  been  discarded  in  the 
State  of  Massachusetts.  It  may  be  that  it  is  only 
a  question  of  time  when  Good-Friday  will  take  the 
place  of  the  New  England  Fast-day.  I  do  not 
doubt  that  if  Governor  Winthrop  and  John  Cotton 
were  living  to-day  they  would  heartily  approve  the 
change. 

XL 

These  illustrations  of  the  progressive  spirit  of 
the  Puritan  ministers  relate  to  matters  which  are 
perhaps  of  minor  importance.  But  the  same  spirit 
was  shown  in  much  more  important  things. 

In  the  first  years  of  the  Colony  of  Massachusetts, 
it  was  ordered  by  the  General  Court  that  "  no  man 
The  Suffrage  shall  be  admitted  to  the  freedom  of  this 
Mmbersof  ^^^Y  po^itic,  but  such  as  are  members 
the  Church.  Qf  somc  of  the  churches  within  the  limits 
of  the  same."  In  this  way  the  Puritans  sought  to 
limit  the  citizenship  to  the  best  men.  But  there 
were  indications  almost  immediately  that  the  pro- 
priety of  a  religious  test  was  questioned,  especially 
by  the  more  progressive  men  among  the  ministers. 
Thomas  Hooker  wrote  a  letter  to  Governor  Win- 
throp, in  which  he  said,  "  In  matters  which  concern 
the  common  good,  a  general  council,  chosen  by 


THE  EARLY  MINISTERS  OP  NEW  ENGLAND.  1 69 

all,  to  transact  business  which  concerns  all,  I  con- 
ceive most  suitable  to  rule,  and  safe  for  the  relief 
of  the  whole."  With  this  view  of  the  true  basis 
for  the  right  of  suffrage,  Mr.  Hooker,  in  1635,  led 
a  company  of  his  friends  to  found  a  new  colony 
on  the  banks  of  the  Connecticut.  At  the  first 
session  of  the  General  Court  of  the  new  colony, 
Mr.  Hooker  preached  a  sermon  in  which  he  said, 
"  The  foundation  of  authority  is  laid  in  the  free 
consent  of  the  people  ;  "  "  the  choice  of  public  mag- 
istrates belongs  unto  the  people,  by  God's  own 
ordinance;"  ..."  they  who  have  power  to  appoint 
officers  and  magistrates,  have  the  right  to  set  the 
bounds  and  limitations  of  the  power  and  place  of 
those  who  are  called."  Thus  it  was  that  this  Puri- 
tan minister  laid  down  the  principles  which  under- 
lie the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  a  hundred 
and  forty  years  before  the  American  Revolution. 
These  principles  were  embodied  in  the  written 
constitution  of  the  Colony  of  Connecticut,  which 
was  adopted  in  1639.  That  constitution  did  not 
impose  any  religious  test  to  limit  the  admission 
of  adult  male  citizens  to  the  right  of  suffrage. 
These  principles  had  a  great  influence  in  Massa- 
chusetts. In  1647,  the  General  Court  voted  that 
those  who  were  not  members  of  the  churches 
might  vote  for  selectmen,  and  on  questions  relating 
to  the  assessment  of  taxes,  and  that  such  persons 
mio^ht  be  chosen  to  fill  certain  offices  in  the  towns. 


70      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


In  1669,  under  some  pressure  from  the  king,  the 
Court  was  induced  to  repeal  the  law  which  limited 
the  suffrage  to  communicants  in  the  churches. 
And  when,  in  1692,  the  Provincial  Charter  from 
William  and  Mary  was  received,  the  change  in 
public  opinion  had  been  so  decided  that  there  was 
very  little  opposition  to  its  provisions,  which  ex- 
tended the  suffrage  to  all  qualified  citizens,  without 
reference  to  their  ecclesiastical  relations.^ 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  mention  the  well- 
known  fact,  that  the  Plymouth  Colony  never  im- 
posed any  religious  test  as  a  qualification  for  the 
suffrage.  There  were  persons  in  that  Colony  who 
did  not  agree  with  the  views  of  the  majority,  but 
some  of  these  persons  were  voters,  and  were  ad- 
mitted to  a  prominent  part  in  the  administration 
of  the  Colony. 

The  next  illustration  touches  a  more  serious 
charge.  The  Puritans  of  Massachusetts  have 
been  called  intolerant,  because  they  sent  out  of 
the  Colony  a  number  of  persons  whom  they  re- 
garded as  disturbers  of  the  peace.  They  claimed 
the  right,  in  the  first  years  of  the  Colony,  while 
their  institutions  were  in  the  forming  state,  to  shut 
out  those  who  would  cause  divisions  among  the 
people,  and  those  who  had  shown  themselves 
restless  and  uncomfortable  members  of  society. 
In  the  early  years  of  the  Colony,  the  Browns  — 

1  Mass.  Colonial  Records,  vol.  i.  197;  vol.  iv.  118. 


THE  EARLY  MINISTERS  OP  NEW  ENGLAND.  171 


one  of  them  a  merchant,  and  the  other  a  lawyer  — 
were  shipped  back  to  England,  because  they  at- 
tempted to  gather  a  congregation,  in  Salem,  which 
should  use  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  in  the 
worship  of  God,  after  the  manner  of  the  Episcopal 
Church.  Eight  or  ten  other  persons,  whose  pres- 
ence in  the  Colony  was  found  to  be  inconvenient 
or  dangerous,  were  sent  away  at  various  times. 

The  most  noted  of  this  class  of  persons  was 
Roger  Williams,  who  was  certainly  one  of   the 
greatest  of  the  Puritan  ministers,  and  whose  ser- 
vices in  behalf  of  religious  liberty  have  given  him 
a  place  among  the  foremost  men  of  that  great  age. 
He  arrived  in  Boston,  in  1631,  when  the  Colony 
was  still  young,  and  weak,  and  when  he  was  him- 
self hardly  thirty  years  of  age.     He  had  taken  the 
degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts  at  Cambridge,  in  1626  ; 
and   he  had  probably  been  a  clergyman  in   the 
Church  of  England.     He  says  that  Bishop  Laud 
pursued  him  out  of  the  land.     Soon  after  he  ar- 
rived in  Boston,  he  was  invited  to  take  the  place 
of  one  of  the   pastors,   for   a   few   months.     He 
declined  the  courteous  request,  because,     Roger 
as  he  said,  he  did  not  "  dare  officiate  to    wmiams. 
an  unseparated  people."     By  this  he  seems  to  have 
meant  that  the  church   in  Boston  was  not  radical 
enough    in    its    separation   from    the   Church    of 
England.     After  this  he  preached  a  few  months 
in  Salem,  then  two  or  three  years  for  the  Pilgrims 


lyo      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


in  Plymouth,  and  then,  leaving  them  somewhat 
abruptly,  after  setting  forth,  as  Governor  Bradford 
tells  us,  certain  strange  opinions,  which  stirred  up 
controversy,  he  went  back  to  Salem,  and  preached 
some  years  in  that  town.  Some  of  the  people  of 
Salem  were  inclined  to  adopt  his  opinions,  while 
a  large  number  dissented  from  them.  The  mag- 
istrates came  to  look  upon  him  as  a  disturber  of 
the  peace,  and  an  enemy  of  good  order  in  the 
young  Colony.  He  taught  that  the  charter  of 
the  Colony  was  of  no  force  or  authority;  that 
the  people  had  no  title  to  their  lands  ;  that  it  was 
unlawful  to  join  in  worship  with  any  person  who 
was  unregenerate,  though  that  person  might  be 
a  member  of  one's  own  family ;  and  that  it  was 
unlawful  to  administer  the  oath  to  one  who  was 
not  a  Christian.  The  churches  of  the  Colony, 
he  said,  were  idolatrous  and  corrupt,  and  their 
ministers  were  false,  and  hirelings.^ 

Great  efforts  w^ere  made  by  Mr.  Cotton  and 
Mr.  Hooker,  to  convince  Mr.  Williams  that  he 
was  in  error  in  these  severe  judgments,  and  to  in- 
duce him  to  withdraw  his  accusations,  but  in  vain. 
Finally  the  General  Court,  after  long  delay,  and 
several  hearings,  decided  that  Mr.  Williams,  hav- 
ing divulged  new  and  strange  opinions,  against  the 

1  Palfrey,  vol.  i.  41 3.  Winthrop's  History,  vol.  i.  61,  11  r.  Mass. 
Colonial  Records,  vol.  i.  yj,  82-86,  91,  108.  Dextcr's  As  to  Roger 
Williams,  3,  note.    Bradford's  History. 


THE  EARLY  MINISTERS  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         I  73 


authority  of  the  magistrates,  and  of  the  churches, 
should  depart  out  of  this  jurisdiction,  within  six 
weeks.  The  time  was  afterwards  extended  to  six 
months,  and  Mr.  Williams  finally  left  the  Colony. 
His  great  reputation  was  made  after  he  was  him- 
self at  the  head  of  a  colony.  An  independent 
position  made  him  conservative  and  constructive. 
As  he  srew  older  and  more  mature,  he  developed 
a  character  which  has  secured  to  him  the  admi- 
ration and  respect  of  all  the  friends  of  religious 
liberty.  After  he  left  Massachusetts,  he  became 
a  Baptist,  and  was  baptized  by  immersion  ;  and  he 
did  a  great  deal  to  give  influence  and  usefulness 
to  that  religious  denomination.  But  that  was  not 
the  reason  that  he  was  required  to  depart  out  of 
the  Colony. 

It  is  pleasing  to  know  that  the  sentence  of  the 
General  Court  against  Mr.  Williams  was  revoked 
some  forty  years  later.  The  vote,  which  is  pre- 
served in  the  Archives  of  Massachusetts,^  makes 
honorable  mention  of  the  services  which  Mr. 
Williams  had  rendered,  by  his  influence  with  the 
Indians,  in  time  of  war,  and  by  his  respect  for  the 
authority  of  the  Colony  in  several  services  desired 
of  him  ;  and  also  of  the  misfortunes  which  he 
had  suffered  in  his  old  age,  on  account  of  the 
burning  of  his  house  in  Providence  by  the  Indians  ; 
and  it  declares    that   the   "  sentence    of   restraint 

1  Massachusetts  Archives,  vol.  x.  233. 


1/4      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND   NEW  ENGLAND. 

from  coming  into  the  Colony  "  is  repealed,  and  that 
Mr.  Williams  "  shall  have  liberty  to  repair  into  any 
of  our  Towns  for  his  security  and  comfortable 
abode  during  these  Public  Troubles." 


XII. 

The  heaviest  charge  against  the  early  Puritan 
ministers  relates  to  the  part  which  they  had  in  the 
prosecution  of  the  Quakers,  and  in  the  most  cruel 
and  atrocious  proceedings  which  grew  out  of  the 
delusion  concerning  witchcraft.  The  first  oc- 
curred between  1656  and  1661,  when  the  Colony 
of  Massachusetts  was  about  thirty  years  old ;  the 
second  between  1690  and  1692.  No  reasonable 
excuse  can  be  made  for  the  extreme  folly  and 
wickedness  of  those  proceedings.  It  seems  un- 
accountable that  men  with  so  much  of  English 
sense  and  courage  should  have  been  thrown  into 
a  panic  by  the  presence  of  a  small  band  of  Quakers 
in  a  colony  which  had  at  that  time  a  population 
of  thirty  or  forty  thousand  people.  It  is  no  valid 
excuse  for  the  Puritans  to  allege  that  the  Quakers 
were  persecuted  in  England  as  well  as  in  New 
England.  It  is  true  that  during  the  years  when 
there  were  twenty  or  thirty  Quakers  In  jail  in  New 
England,  there  were  more  than  a  thousand  of  them 
imprisoned  in  Great  Britain.  The  whole  number 
who  were  fined,  imprisoned,  or  scourged  in  the 


THE  EARLY  MINISTERS  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.  1 75 

two  colonies  of  Massachusetts  and  Plymouth  may 
have  been  sixty ;  while  the  number  who  suffered 
in  that  way  in  England  was  between  three  and 
four  thousand  ;  and  three  hundred  and  Persecution  of 
thirty-eight  died  in  English  prisons.-^  the  Quakers. 
But  we  have  a  right  to  expect  a  larger  charity 
among  a  people  who  had  themselves  endured  per- 
secution. It  is  true,  however,  that  the  Puritans 
dealt  with  the  Quakers  simply  as  intruders  into 
their  Colony.  They  claimed  the  right  to  forbid 
them  to  enter  their  bounds;  and  they  always  offered 
them  a  free  pardon,  even  after  sentence,  if  they 
would  depart  from  the  Colony.  When  the  law 
was  passed  in  Massachusetts  which  provided  for 
inflicting  the  penalty  of  death  upon  Quakers 
found  in  the  Colony  under  certain  circumstances, 
it  was  vigorously  opposed  by  a  numerous  party, 
which  included  both  ministers  and  laymen,  and  it 
was  finally  enacted  by  a  majority  of  only  a  single 
vote.  It  is  also  true,  that  each  of  the  four  persons 
who  were  put  to  death  under  that  law  came  into 
the  Colony  from  abroad,  after  he  knew  of  the  exist- 
ence of  the  law.  They  came  expressly  to  defy  the 
penalty.  Each  of  them  was  offered  his  liberty  if 
he  w^ould  engage  to  leave  the  Colony.  They  volun- 
tarily laid  down  their  lives  as  a  testimony  against 
an  unrighteous  law,  and  their  death  led  to  the 

1  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  vol.  xx.  148,  9th  ed.    Palfre}',  vol.  ii. 
440-445,  note. 


176       THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


repeal  of  the  law.  In  this  case,  as  in  so  many  others, 
the  victory  was  with  the  persecuted  party. 

Thirty  years  later,  another  epidemic  of  folly 
swept  over  the  New  England  colonies,  which  led 
Witchcraft  in  ^o  a  multitude  of  horrors,  and  the  ju- 
KewEnsiand.  ^IJcial  murdcr  of  about  twenty  persons. 
The  Puritans  had  always  believed  in  the  existence 
of  what  is  known  in  history  as  witchcraft,  as  most 
persons  who  lived  in  the  seventeenth  century  did. 
When  it  was  alleged  that  there  were  persons  in 
Salem,  and  various  other  places,  who  had  entered 
into  a  leafyue  with  the  Devil  to  torture  and  kill 
their  neighbors,  they  seem  to  have  taken  leave  of 
their  senses,  and  given  themselves  up  to  a  car- 
nival of  folly.  The  history  of  that  delusion  is 
undoubtedly  the  darkest  part  of  their  record. 

And  yet  it  is  an  error  to  suppose  that  our  fathers 
were  peculiar  in  this  thing.  They  only  adopted 
the  common  belief  of  their  times.  The  atrocities 
in  New  England  were  much  less  than  those  in 
Old  England.  The  state  trials  of  England  show 
that  Chief  Justice  Hale,  and  others  among  the  most 
eminent  jurists  in  that  country,  believed  that  witch- 
craft was  a  crime  to  be  punished  by  law.  In  the 
years  when  witches  were  hung  in  Massachusetts, 
a  much  larger  number  were  put  to  death  in  Great 
Britain.^     It  is  related  that  the  bull  of  Pope  Inno- 

^  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  Art.  Witchcraft.  Palfrey,  vol.  iii. 
124-125. 


THE  EARLY  MINISTERS  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         1 77 

cent  the  Eighth  against  witchcraft  caused  the  death 
of  a  hundred  thousand  persons  in  Germany  alone. 
The  story  of  man's  inhumanity  to  man  is  not 
Hmited  to  Massachusetts.  The  English  statutes 
against  witchcraft  were  not  repealed  until  fifty 
years  after  the  superstition  had  passed  away  from 
New  England.  It  can  be  fairly  claimed,  in  behalf 
of  our  fathers,  that  the  madness  was  past  in  about 
two  years,  instead  of  lasting  for  generations,  as  it 
did  in  so  many  other  countries ;  and  that  the 
number  of  victims,  when  compared  with  the 
number  who  were  put  to  death  elsewhere,  was 
small.  Moreover,  those  who  had  been  led  to 
participate  in  the  atrocious  acts  of  the  epidemic 
of  cruelty,  were  among  the  first  to  discover  the 
folly  and  wickedness  of  the  whole  thing.  The 
confessions  which  they  made  were  very  full,  and 
as  public  as  their  offence  had  been. 


XIII. 

Another  illustration  of  the  progressive  ten- 
dency among  the  early  New  England  ministers  is 
to  be  found  in  the  history  of  their  Church  Polity. 
The  first  churches  were  strictly  inde-     ^^  ^  ,.^  ^ 

^    ^  The  Polity  of 

pendent.    The  ministers  were  jealous  of     theEariy 

...  .  Churches. 

any  act  which  implied  that  a  neighbor 

church  had  a  right  to  influence  another  church.    In 

the  earliest  years  the  churches  exercised  their  right 

12 


178      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

to  ordain  their  own  officers,  without  the  advice  or 
help  of  their  neighbors.  Thus  they  lost  sight  of 
the  fellowship  of  the  churches,  in  the  one  kingdom 
of  our  Lord.  They  followed  the  same  course  that 
the  English  Independents  have  followed,  whose 
churches  were  said  by  one  of  their  own  divines 
to  be  "  like  so  many  ships  launched  singly,  and 
sailing  apart  and  alone  in  the  vast  ocean  of  these 
tumultuous  times,  exposed  to  every  wind  of  doc- 
trine."^ There  was  no  more  important  work 
done  by  the  early  Puritan  ministers  than  the 
evolution  of  the  Congregational  Church  Polity 
from  the  Independency  of  the  first  years  of  the 
Colony.  It  was  by  experience  and  free  discus- 
sion that  they  learned  to  limit  the  tendency  to 
the  isolation  of  the  local  church,  by  the  principle 
of  fellowship. 

John  Cotton  and  Thomas  Hooker  seem  to  have 
been  the  leaders  in  the  movement  to  supply  the 
defects  in  the  ecclesiastical  system.  Both  of  them 
published  important  works  designed  to  lead  toward 
a  better  Polity.  The  movement  was  strengthened 
by  the  apprehension  that  the  Presbyterian  party 
in  England  designed  to  impose  their  system  of 
church  government  upon  the  colonies.  It  was  felt 
that  the  separate  and  isolated  churches  in  New 
Enorland  were  in  no  condition  to  resist  such  an 
effort.     The    General    Court    of    Massachusetts 

1  The  Savoy  Divines  of  1658,  quoted  by  Palfrey,  vol.  ii.  180. 


THE  EARLY  MINISTERS  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.         1 79 

therefore  invited  the  churches  in  all  the  colonies 
of  New  England  to  send  their  elders  and  messen- 
gers to  a  synod  at  Cambridge  "  to  establish  and 
settle  the  right  form  of  government  and  discipline 
for  the  churches."  The  synod  met  in  1646,  and, 
after  a  short  session,  adjourned  for  a  few  months, 
and  then  adjourned  a  second  time,  so  that  the 
final  session  was  held  in  1648.  All  through  the 
two  years,  the  discussion  of  principles  was  going 
on  among  the  churches,  so  that  in  the  end  a  good 
degree  of  unanimity  was  secured. 

The  Cambridge  Platform  which  the  synod 
finally  adopted  was  designed  to  introduce  order 
and  unity,  and  to  create  a  system  capable  of  more 
efficient  action  than  had  been  provided  for  by  the 
earlier  methods.  The  synod,  in  seeking  for  a 
bond  of  union,  discarded  the  methods  of  the 
Presbyterian  and  Episcopal  churches,  and  adopted 
the  system  of  ecclesiastical  councils,  which  had 
been  growing  in  favor  among  them  for  a  long 
period.  The  council,  as  they  conceived  of  it,  was 
not  to  be  a  permanent  body,  but  to  be  convened 
for  special  occasions,  and  to  be  made  up  of  min- 
isters and  delegates  from  the  churches  of  the 
vicinity;  and  its  existence  terminated  when  the 
business  for  which  it  was  called  had  been  done. 
Its  decisions  were  not  authoritative,  but  "  had  so 
much  weight  as  there  was  weight  in  the  reasons 
for  them."      The  platform  recognizes  and  defines 


l80     THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

the  rights  of  the  local  church,  and  it  denies  to 
councils  the  power  of  discipline  by  authority. 
But  it  encourages  the  calling  of  councils  to  con- 
sider and  advise  in  matters  of  common  interest. 
It  allows  the  ordination  of  churcli  officers  by  offi- 
cers of  other  churches,  assembled  in  mutual 
councils,  thus  relaxing  the  ancient  rule.  "  It  be- 
longeth  unto  synods  and  councils  to  debate  and 
determine  controversies  of  faith,  and  cases  of  con- 
science, to  clear  up  from  the  Word  directions  for 
the  worship  of  God,  and  for  the  good  government 
of  the  church,  to  bear  witness  against  maladminis- 
tration and  corruption  in  doctrine  or  manners  in 
any  particular  church,  and  to  give  directions  for 
the  reformation  thereof."  -^ 

This  platform  has  not  been  by  any  means  a 
fixed  rule  of  procedure.  As  it  was  itself  the  result 
of  the  development  of  principles,  so  its  provisions 
have  been  modified  and  improved  as  the  experi- 
ence and  needs  of  the  churches  have  required,  as 
they  have  spread  beyond  the  limits  of  New  Eng- 
land into  all  parts  of  the  country.  But  the  Cam- 
bridge Platform  has  maintained  its  place  as  an 
ancient  and  valuable  standard  amonor  the  Consrre- 
gational  churches  for  two  hundred  and  forty-eight 
years.  Its  influence  in  securing  the  stability  and 
the  steady  growth  of  the   Puritan  churches  has 

1  Historical  Preface  to  the  Cambridge  Platform.  Palfrey,  vol.  ii. 
165-186. 


THE  EARLY  MINISTERS  OP  NEW  ENGLAND.         l8l 

been  very  great.  It  still  holds  a  place  of  honor 
amonor  them,  and  is  one  of  the  finest  monuments 
of  the  wisdom  and  piety  of  our  fathers. 

XIV. 

The  right  of  private  judgment,  that  leading 
principle  of  Protestantism,  is  the  source  of  most 
of  the  progress  of  modern  times.  The  Puritans, 
in  the  exercise  of  this  right,  had  thrown  aside  a 
great  body  of  traditions  from  the  Middle  Ages ; 
and  they  had  put  the  ocean  between  themselves 
and  the  old  societies  and  governments  and 
churches,  that  they  might  work  out  freely  their 
convictions  in  a  new  church  and  a  new  common- 
wealth. Every  man  of  them  felt  that  it  was  his 
right  and  duty  to  judge  for  himself  in  respect  to 
all  matters  of  truth  and  duty.  It  is  an  error  to 
suppose  that  the  Puritans  were  content  to  take 
their  opinions  from  their  ministers,  or  that  the 
ministers  themselves  were  agreed  in  respect  to  all 
points  of  faith  or  practice.  The  spirit  of  inquiry 
possessed  all  minds.  New  opinions  were  spring- 
ing up  every  day.  One  of  the  synods  found  it 
necessary  to  condemn  eighty-two  errors  that  had 
been  set  forth  by  some  among  them.  There  could 
be  no  more  striking  illustration  of  the  independent 
thinking  of  our  fathers.  Mr.  John  Fiske  calls  this 
tendency   rationalism,  and  he  says,  "  The  conse- 


I  82      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

quences  of  this  rationalistic  spirit  have  been  very 
far-reaching.  In  the  conviction  that  religious 
opinions  must  be  consonant  with  reason,  and  that 
religious  truth  must  be  brought  home  to  each 
individual  by  rational  argument,  we  may  find  one 
of  the  chief  causes  of  that  peculiarly  conservative 
yet  flexible  intelligence  which  has  enabled  the 
Puritan  countries  to  take  the  lead  in  the  civilized 
world  of  to-day."  ^ 

These  statements  of  Mr.  Fiske  lead  towards  the 
true  philosophy  of  New  England  history.  Our 
Puritan  fathers  felt  bound  not  only  to  interpret 
the  Bible  for  themselves,  but  to  test  all  principles 
and  institutions  by  their  reason  and  conscience. 
This  habit  of  mind  made  them  the  most  original 
and  progressive  men  of  their  time.  They  were 
not  hidebound  conservatives.  They  proved  all 
things,  and  held  fast  that  which  was  good.  The 
New  England  spirit  has  been  developed  from  the 
thinking  and  the  devotion  of  those  heroic  men, 
planted  in  this  new  world,  where  they  were  free 
to  build  according  to  new  patterns,  bringing  out 
of  their  treasure  things  new  and  old. 

^  Beginnings  of  New  England,  149. 


IV. 
William  Pynchon,  Gent. 


William   Pynchon,  Gent. 

TN  writing  of  the  early  Puritan  ministers  of  New 
England,  it  has  been  necessary  to  speak  of  a 
great  many  persons  besides  the  ministers.  For 
the  ministers  were  closely  connected  with  all  the 
public  men  of  the  colonies,  and  with  the  social 
and  political  interests  of  the  people.  So  that  we 
have  already  seen  what  sort  of  men  the  political 
leaders  of  the  people  were ;  how  they  lived,  and 
what  ideals  they  were  working  out.  The  picture  of 
Puritan  life,  however,  will  be  more  complete,  if  we 
study  the  lives  of  some  of  those  who  were  not 
ministers.  There  were  men  in  the  colonies  who 
guided  the  people  in  working  out  their  principles, 
as  Eliot  and  Hampden  and  Pym  had  The  Great 
led  the  Puritans  in  the  Mother  Coun-  Goveraors 
try.  We  think  at  once  of  Governor  and  statesmen. 
John  Winthrop,  and  his  son  of  the  same  name, 
the  Governor  of  Connecticut ;  and  of  the  more 
conservative  Governor  Dudley,  of  Sir  Henry 
Vane,  also  a  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  and 
of    William    Bradford,    Governor   of    Plymouth, 


1 86       THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND, 

and  his  successor  Edward  Winslow.  But  the 
lives  of  these  men  have  been  often  written,  and 
very  little  that  is  new  remains  to  be  said  about 
them. 


I  HAVE  chosen,  therefore,  to  write  of  another  man 
of  affairs,  of  the  Colonial  age,  who  is  not  so  well 
known  as  some  of  the  other  men,  though  he  stood 
in  the  front  rank  among  the  founders  of  Mas- 
sachusetts. William  Pynchon^  was  a  Puritan  of 
the  Puritans,  who  came  to  New  England  with 
John  Winthrop,  in  1630.  He  was  one  of  the  men 
who  signed  the  notable  agreement  at  Cambridge, 
August  16,  1629,  with  Winthrop  and  Dudley  and 
wiuiam  Isaac  Johnson  and  eight  others,  which 

pynchon.  \^^  ^lic  way  to  the  settlement  of  New 
England.  He  was  an  original  member  of  the 
Massachusetts  Company,  formed  in  England,  and 
was  one  of  its  officers.  He  was  the  representative 
of  an  ancient  and  wealthy  English  family. 

"  The  first  of  the  Pynchon  family,"^  says  Presi- 
dent Thomas  R.  Pynchon,  D.  D.,  now  of  Trinity 
College,  Hartford,  Conn.,  "came  to  England  with 
the  Conqueror,  and  had  a  grant  of  manors  in  Lin- 
colnshire. Thence  they  drifted,  after  some  genera- 
tions, into  Northamptonshire,  where  W.  Pynchon 

1  See  the  frontispiece  for  his  portrait. 

"^  MS.  letter  from  President  T.  R.  Pynchon,  dated  Trinity  Col- 
lege, Hartford,  March  4,  1886. 


WILLIAM  PYNCHON,  GENT.  1 8/ 

resided,  who  was  the  grandfather  of  Henry  Chich- 
ley,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  who  flourished  in 
the  time  of  kings  Henry  Fourth,  Fifth,  and  Sixth, 
between  14 14  and  1443.  From  Northampton- 
shire they  passed  into  Essex,  and  had  property  at 
Writtle,  near  Chelmsford.  The  church  of  that 
town,  a  noble  building,  has  in  its  chancel  many 
fine  monuments  running  through  several  genera- 
tions of  the  family."  Nicholas  Pynchon  was  sheriff 
of  London,  in  1532.^  His  son  John,  of  Writtle, 
Essex,  married  Jane,  heiress  of  Sir  Richard  Emp- 
son,  one  of  the  ministers  of  Henry  the  Seventh. 
John  Pynchon  died  in  1573,  leaving  six  children. 
His  second  son,  John,  settled  in  Springfield,  Es- 
sex, near  Chelmsford.  His  son  William,  of  whom 
I  am  to  write,  was  born,  probably  in  Springfield, 
about  1590.  The  date  of  his  birth  is  determined 
by  an  inscription  ^  on  his  portrait,  now  in  posses- 
sion of  the  Essex  Institute,  at  Salem,  which  indi- 
cates that  the  portrait  was  painted  in  1657,  and 
that  his  age  was  sixty-seven  years. 

William  Pynchon,  gent,  as  his  name  is  always 
written  in  the  records  of  the  Colony,  was  a  man 
of  fortune,  well  versed  in  affairs,  and  well  educated. 
It  is  said  that  he  was  not  a  graduate  from  the 
university ;  but  his  works  show  that  he  had  some 

1  Heraldic  Journal,  No.  14,  April,  1866,  quoted  in  Records  of 
the  Pynchon  Family. 

2  "  Guil.  Pynchon  armg.  Effigies.  |  Delin.  Anno  Dom.  1657.  | 
aet.  67." 


I  88      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

knowledge  of  the  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew  lan- 
o-uages,  and  a  wide  acquaintance  with  the  theo- 
loo-ical  literature  of  his  time.      He  was  one  of  the 
patentees  named  in  the  Charter  of  the  Colony  of 
Massachusetts  Bay,  from  Charles  the  First,  which 
bears  the  date  of  March  28,  1628.^     He  was  also 
named  in  the  same  charter  one  of  the  eighteen  As- 
sistants, and  was  connected  with  the  government  of 
the  Company  before  it  was  transferred  to  this  side 
setuement  of     ^f  the  Atlantic  by  the  notable  vote  of 
Roxbury.         j^g  mcmbcrs.     He  was  the  leader  in  the 
settlement  of  Roxbury,  and  one  of  the  founders  of 
the  first  church  in  that  town.^     He  was  engaged 
in  business,  perhaps   as  a  merchant.     While  at 
Roxbury  he  was  for  some  years  Treasurer  of  the 
Colony,  and  w^as  elected,  from  year  to  year,  one  of 
the  Assistants.     He  was  early  licensed  as  a  fur- 
trader.     In  1632,  he  paid  twenty-five  pounds  into 
the  treasury  of  the  Colony  for  his  license  as  a  fur- 
trader.     The  same  sum  was  paid  each  year  until 
1635,  when  the  General  Court  remitted  one  fifth  of 
the  amount,  probably  because  the  trade  had  become 
less  lucrative. 

II. 

It  is  not  easy  to  understand  why  it  w^as  that, 
within  five  or  six  years  after  the  settlements   near 

1  Bancroft,  vol.  i.  265,  281.     Mass.  Records,  vol.  i. 

2  Hist.  Boston,  vol.  i.  401-41 1. 


WILLIAM  PYNCHON,  GENT.  1 89 

Boston  were  begun,  the  people  in  a  number  of  these 
settlements  were  moved  by  a  common  impulse  to  go 
further  west.  The  reasons  given,  says  Winthrop,^ 
were  their  "  lack  of  accommodations  for  their  cattle, 
so  that  they  were  not  able  to  maintain 

,,      .  .     .  ,  ,  .  The  Desire  to 

then'  mmisters,  nor  could  receive  any  piantawew 
more  friends  to  help  them ;  and  also  the  ^^°"^* 
fruitfulness  and  commodiousness  of  Connecticut, 
and  the  danger  of  its  being  possessed  by  others," 
Dutch  or  English  ;  and,  what  is  always  the  decisive 
reason  with  persons  seized  by  the  western  fever, 
"  the  strong  bent  of  their  spirit  to  remove  thither." 
Cotton  Mather  says,  "  It  was  not  long  before  the 
Massachusetts  Colony  was  become  like  a  hive 
overstocked  with  bees,  and  many  of  the  new  in- 
habitants entertained  thoughts  of  swarming  into 
plantations  extending  further  into  the  country." 
"  The  Colony,"  he  says,^  "  might  fetch  its  descrip- 
tion from  the  Scripture :  '  Thou  hast  brought  a 
vine  out  of  England ;  Thou  hast  cast  out  the 
heathen  and  planted  it ;  Thou  preparedst  room 
before  it,  and  didst  cause  it  to  take  deep  root,  and 
it  filled  the  land.'  But  still  there  was  one  stroke 
wanting,  to  wit,  '  She  sent  forth  her  branches  tmto 
the  river^  whereupon  many  of  the  planters,  belong- 
ing especially  to  the  towns  of  Cambridge,  Dor- 
chester, Watertown,  and  Roxbury,  took  up  reso- 

1  Winthrop's  History  of  New  England,  vol.  i.  140. 

2  Quoted  by  Dr.  Holland  in  Hist,  of  Western  Mass.,  i.  20. 


I  go      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

lutions  to  travel  an  hundred  miles  westward  from 
those  towns  for  a  further  settlement  upon  that 
famous  river,  the  report  of  which  had  made  a  little 
Nilus  of  it."  All  of  which  means,  that  Boston, 
Cambridge,  and  the  rest  were  full,  as  the  people 
thought,  and  they  were  already  feeling  the  stir- 
rings of  that  wonderful  instinct  which  in  two 
centuries  and  a  half  has  belted  the  continent  with 
Puritan  populations,  which  stretch  already  as  far 
as  the  Massachusetts  charter  gave  a  title,  even  to 
the  western  sea. 

The  14th  of  May,  1634,^  the  General  Court 
granted  leave  to  the  inhabitants  of  Newtown  "  to 
remove  their  habitations  to  some  convenient 
place."  On  the  6th  of  May,  1635,  it  was  voted  to 
grant  liberty  to  the  inhabitants  of  Watertown,  and 
to  the  inhabitants  of  "  Rocksbury  to  remove  them- 
selves to  any  place  they  shall  think  meete,  not  to 
prejudice  another  plantation,  provided  they  con- 
tinue still  under  this  government."  That  same 
year  a  company,  or  several  companies,  settled  on 
the  Connecticut  River  within  the  present  limits  of 
Connecticut.  In  1635,  two  men,  John  Cable  and 
John  Woodcock,  were  sent  by  Mr.  Pynchon  to 
the  Connecticut  River  to  build  a  house  for  the 
new  plantation.  It  is  probable  that  Mr.  Pynchon 
himself  had  before  this  crossed  the  country,  to  the 
valley  of  the  river,  and  selected  the  place  for  the 
settlement. 

^  Mass.  Records,  i.  136. 


WILLIAM  PYNCHON,  GENT.  I9I 


III. 

In  the  spring  of  1636,  Mr.  Pynchon  and  seven 
other  men  made  their  way  through  the  wilderness, 
following,  it  is  supposed,  the  Bay  Path,  xne springfieid 
so  called,  and  began  a  new  plantation,  ^^^'^y'^^^^- 
Their  goods  were  sent  by  water,  in  Governor 
Winthrop's  vessel,  —  the  "  Blessing  of  the  Bay,"  — 
which  left  Boston,  April  26th.  We  ride  to  Spring- 
field, over  almost  the  exact  route  of  the  Bay  Path, 
in  less  than  three  hours.  The  pioneers  were  per- 
haps a  week  cutting  their  road  through  the  forest, 
following,  for  a  part  of  the  way,  an  Indian  trail. 
The  date  of  their  arrival  is  not  known,  but  on  the 
14th  of  May  they  subscribed  an  agreement,  which 
contains  fifteen  articles,  and  which  was  designed 
as  the  fundamental  law  of  the  Colony.  It  gives  it 
the  name  of  the  Plantation  of  Agawam,  spelled  in 
the  agreement  Agaam,  according  to  the  pronun- 
ciation of  the  Indians  of  the  vicinity.  The  first 
article  provides  for  the  settlement  of  a  "  Godly 
and  faithful  minister,"  "  with  all  convenient  speed, 
with  whom  we  propose  to  joyne  in  church  cove- 
nant, to  walk  in  all  the  ways  of  Christ."^  The 
second  limits  the  number  of  families  to  forty,  or 
by  general  consent  to  fifty  at  the  utmost.  The 
others  provide  for  the  allotment  of  land  to  the 

1  Judge  Morris's  Address,  1876,  Appendix. 


IQ2      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

various  settlers,  and  for  defraying  the  expenses  of 
the  settlement.  It  was  stipulated  that  no  man 
except  Mr.  William  Pynchon  ''  shall  have  above 
ten  acres  for  his  house  lot."  On  laying  out  the 
land,  the  general  course  was  to  "  allow  each  inhab- 
itant a  house  lot  on  the  west  side  of  "  what  is  now 
called  Main  Street,  "  eight  rods  wide,  from  the 
street  to  the  river ;  a  like  width  in  the  meadow  in 
front  of  his  house,  to  the  foot  of  the  hill ;  and  a 
wood  lot,  of  the  same  breadth,  extending,  at  first 
eighty,  and  afterwards  an  hundred  rods,  nearly  to 
the  top  of  the  hill ;  and,  when  practicable,  an  allot- 
ment in  the  intervale,  on  the  west  side  of  the  River, 
of  the  same  width,  and,  as  near  as  might  be, 
directly  against  his  lot."  ^ 

Mr.  Pynchon  was  the  magistrate  of  the  Colony, 
at  first  under  a  general  commission  from  the 
«  T_  V      General    Court,  dated  March   x,    16^6,2 

Mr.  Pynchon  ^  '  ^  O'  o    ' 

tteoniy  which  authorizcs  eisfht  persons  to  de- 
Magistrate.  .         .  .     1.  .^  ^-cc 

termme,  m  a  judicial   way,   dirrerences, 

and  to  inflict  corporal  punishment,  or  imprison- 
ment, or  to  levy  fines,  in  various  plantations  on 
the  Connecticut  River. 

There  is  on  record,  at  the  Registry  of  Deeds  in 
Hampden  County,^  a  paper  which  conveys  the 
Indian  title  to  the  lands,  on  both  sides  of  the  river 

1  Address  by  George  Bliss,  March  24,  1828. 

2  Massachusetts  Colonial  Records,  vol.  i.  1 70-1 71. 
*  Dr.  Holland's  History,  vol.  i.  29. 


WILLIAM  PYNCHON,  GENT.  1 93 

for  four  or  five  miles,  to  William  Pynchon,  Esq., 
Mr.  Henry  Smith  (his  son-in-law),  and  their  heirs 
and  associates.  It  is  dated  July  15,  1636,  and 
is  signed  by  thirteen  Indians,  by  their  marks. 
The  consideration  acknowledged  in  the  deed  is 
eighteen  fathom  of  wampum,  eighteen  coats, 
eighteen  hatchets,  eighteen  hoes,  and  eighteen 
knives,  besides  certain  presents  made  to  some  of 
the  chiefs. 

The  year  following  the  settlement,  the  people 
secured  the  services  of  Rev.  George  Moxon,  and 
under  him  they  formed  a  church.^  Mr.  Moxon 
had  received  Episcopal  ordination  in  England. 
He  was  a  graduate  of  Sidney  College,  Cambridge, 
and  took  his  degree  of  A.B.  in  1623.  He  was  a 
personal  friend  of  Mr.  Pynchon,  and  continued 
in  the  Colony  only  so  long  as  Mr.  Pynchon  did.^ 
A  house  was  built  for  him  by  a  voluntary  assess- 
ment in  1639;  and  he  received  a  salary  of  forty 
pounds  a  year,  of  which,  in  1638,  Mr.  Pynchon 
paid  ^24  6s.  Zd? 

All  the  settlements  on  the  Connecticut  — 
Wethersfield,  Hartford,  Windsor,  and  Agawam  — 
were  at  first  united  under  a  joint  commission, 
appointed  by  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts, 
of  which  Mr.  Pynchon  was  a  member.  He  at- 
tended a  court  held  at  Hartford  in  November, 

1  Hist,  of  Conn.  Valley,  33.  ^  Hist,  of  Conn.  Valley,  33. 

2  Holland's  History,  vol.  i.  31. 

13 


194       "^^^  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


1636,  and  also  in  1637.  In  163S,  Rev.  George 
Moxon  and  John  Burr  were  chosen  to  represent 
Asrawam  at  the  same  court/  It  had  been  uncer- 
tain  how  many  of  the  settlements  were  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  Massachusetts;  but,  in  1638,  the 
people  of  Agavvam  became  satisfied  that  "by 
God's  Providence  they  were  now  fallen  into  the 
line  of  the  Massachusetts  jurisdiction ; "  and  they 
chose  Mr.  William  Pynchon  "  to  execute  the  oflice 
of  a  magistrate  in  this  our  plantation  of  Agawam," 
"  till  we  receive  further  directions  from  the  Gen- 
eral Court  in  the  Massachusetts  Bay."  The 
record  of  this  action  occupies  the  second  page  in 
the  manuscript  volume  known  as  "  The  Pynchon 
Record  Book."  The  magistrate  was  authorized 
"  to  administer  oaths,  issue  warrants,  hear  and 
examine  misdemeanors,  inflict  corporal  punish- 
ment by  whipping  and  the  stocks,  to  commit  to 
prison;  to  try  actions  for  debt  or  trespass,  and 
keep  records  of  verdicts,  judgments,  and  execu- 
tions, and  whatever  else  may  tend  to  the  king's 
peace."  ^  It  was  agreed,  on  account  of  the  scarcity 
of  men,  that  six  persons  should  be  deemed  a 
"good  and  sufHcient  jury  to  try  any  action,  under 
the  sum  of  ten  pounds." 

1  Holland's  History,  vol.  i.  33.  2  ibid. 


WILLIAM  PYNCHON,   GENT.  1 95 


IV. 

This  was  really  a  form  of  government,  adopted 
by  the  inhabitants  of  the  Colony,  and  was  an 
assumption  of  the  right  of  self-govern-  ^^g^ 
ment,  and  especially  of  independence  of  Government, 
the  authority  of  Connecticut.  This  action  led  to 
a  prolonged  controversy,  in  which  Mr.  Pynchon 
acted  as  the  leader  of  the  Colonists.  Their  posi- 
tion was  finally  sustained  by  the  General  Court 
of  Massachusetts,  which,  on  the  2d  of  June,  1641, 
adopted  an  elaborate  paper,^  which  asserted  the 
claim  of  the  Massachusetts  Colony  to  the  planta- 
tion, and  ordered  that  "  William  Pynchon,  gent, 
for  the  year  shall  have  full  power  and  authority 
to  govern  the  inhabitants  of  Agawam,  now  Spring- 
field, to  hear  and  determine  all  causes  and  offences, 
both  civil  and  criminal,  that  reach  not  to  life, 
limbs,  or  banishment,  according  to  the  laws  heare 
established."  A  little  earlier  than  this,  namel3^  the 
14th  of  April,  1640,  the  inhabitants  assembled  in 
general  town-meeting,  and  changed  the  name  of 
their  plantation  from  Agawam  to  Springfield, 
as  a  compliment  to  Mr.  Pynchon,  whose  home 
was  in  Springfield  before  his  removal  to  New 
England.^  Mr.  Pynchon  was  the  magistrate  of 
the  Colony  from  the  beginning  to  165 1,  first  as  a 

1  Mass.  Records,  vol.  i.  321.       -  Holland's  History,  vol.  i.  34. 


196      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

member  of  the  joint  commission,  then  by  vote  of 
the  people  of  Agawam,  and  after  June  2,  1 641,  by 
commission  from  the  General  Court. 

The  records  of  his  court  show  the  variety  and 
importance  of  his  duties.  One  of  the  most  im- 
portant cases  was  a  suit  for  slander.  John  Wood- 
cock was  complained  of  for  slandering  the  pastor, 
Rev.  George  Moxon,  by  saying  that  the  said 
Moxon  had  taken  a  false  oath  against  him  at 
Hartford.  Mr.  Moxon  claimed  ^9  193-.  damages, 
but  the  jury  awarded  him  ^6  13^.  There  were 
suits  for  the  collection  of  debts,  and  for  violation 
of  contract.  Estates  were  settled  in  Mr.  Pynchon's 
court,  and  the  inventories  in  his  Record  Book 
give  us  glimpses  of  the  sort  of  property  and  of 
household  furniture  in  those  times,  as  well  as  of 
the  prices  at  which  articles  were  valued.  In  165 1, 
Hugh  Parsons  was  apprehended  on  charge  of 
witchcraft.  The  testimony  against  him  is  recorded 
by  Mr.  Pynchon.  The  duty  of  the  magistrate 
consisted  in  the  examination  of  witnesses.  Parsons 
was  sent  to  Boston  for  trial.  Witnesses  were 
produced,  and  the  testimony  taken  in  Springfield 
A  case  of  was  read,  and  the  prisoner  was  found 
Witchcraft,  guilty  of  the  sin  of  witchcraft.  The 
General  Court  reviewed  the  case  and  reversed  the 
verdict.  The  wife  of  Parsons  had  been  insane, 
and  had  taken  the  life  of  her  infant  child.  She 
was  arrested  for  the  double  crime  of  witchcraft 


WILLIAM  PYNCnON,  GENT.  1 97 

and  murder.  Her  examination  was  before  Mr. 
Pynchon.  She  was  tried  in  Boston,  and  found 
guilty  of  murder  only.  As  there  is  no  further 
record  in  her  case,  it  is  probable  that  she  died  in 
prison.  This  was  forty  years  earlier  than  the 
great  excitement  in  connection  with  witchcraft  in 
Salem  and  Boston.  It  was,  so  far  as  I  know,  the 
earliest  trial  for  witchcraft  in  Massachusetts. 

The  settlers  very  early  adopted  a  code  of 
municipal  regulations.  The  annual  town-meeting 
was  fixed  upon  the  first  Tuesday  in  November.^ 
Every  householder  was  required  to  have  a  ladder 
annexed  to  his  house,  as  a  security  in  case  of  fire, 
and  to  have  his  chimney  swept  at  stated  periods. 
It  was  forbidden  to  carry  fire  from  house  to  house, 
not  being  sufficiently  covered,  on  penalty  of  a  fine 
of  ^s.,  and  a  liability  for  all  damages.  As  the 
houses  were  covered  with  thatch,  and  the  chim- 
neys were  wooden  frames  covered  with  mortar, 
and  there  was  much  inflammable  material  in  the 
street,  the  need  of  this  regulation  is  apparent. 
November  14,  1639,  it  was  ordered  that  the 
"  Sealed  Peck,  which  Mr.  Pynchon  hath,  shall  be 
the  ordinary  Peck  to  buy  and  sell  by  in  the  Plan- 
tation." "  The  exercise  of  trayning  was  to  be 
practiced  one  day  in  every  month."  No  person 
was  to  trade,  give,  or  lend  to  any  Indian  any  quan- 
tity of  powder,  little  or  great,  under  penalty  of  40^". 

^  Address  by  George  Bliss,  1828,  Appendix  N. 


198       THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


The  wages  of  carpenters  were  fixed  at  2^.  6d.  a 
day,  for  the  nine  best  months,  and  at  2s.  from  the 
loth  of  November  to  the  loth  of  Feb- 
Reprrto  ruary.  Mowers  should  have  2s.  6d.  a 
Prices.  ^^^^     SawerS;  6^.  6d.  per  hundred  feet, 

"  they  to  fall  and  hewe,  and  the  owner  to  bring  to 
the  pitt."  Ordinary  farm  labor  was  2s.  a  day  for 
nine  months,  and  18^.  for  three  months;  only 
from  the  24th  of  April  to  the  24th  of  June  they 
"  are  left  to  their  liberty  as  men  can  agree."  A 
day's  work  was  the  whole  day,  allowing  convenient 
time  for  food  and  rest.  Violation  of  these  rules 
to  be  punished  "  by  the  Magistrate  according  to 
the  quality  and  nature  of  the  offence."  Any  man 
elected  to  any  office  in  the  town,  and  refusing 
or  neglecting  to  serve,  "  shall  pay  to  the  Town 
Treasurer  20^.,  unless  he  have  served  in  that  office 
the  year  before."  And  any  inhabitant  who  should 
absent  himself  from  town-meeting  should  be  liable 
to  a  fine  of  2s.  6d.  "  Jan.  8,  1646,  it  was  agreed 
by  the  plantation  with  John  Matthews  to  beat  the 
drum  for  the  meetings,  for  a  year's  space,  at  10 
A.M.  on  Lecture  days,  and  9,  on  the  Lord's  days, 
in  the  fournoons  only,  and  he  is  to  beat  it  from 
Mr.  Moxon's  to  R.  Stebbins  house,  and  ye  meet- 
ings to  begin  within  half  an  hour  after,  for  which 
his  paynes,  he  is  to  have  "jd.,  in  wampum,  of  every 
family  in  the  town,  or  a  peck  of  Indian  corn  if 
they  have  not  wampum." 


WILLIAM  PYNCHON,  GENT.  1 99 

Mr.  Pynchon  succeeded  in  preserving  friendly 
relations  with  the  Indians  of  the  vicinity  by  a 
wise  and  conciliatory  policy.^     One  part 

...  ..  -^    ^         ,        T      T  Relations 

01  his  policy  was  to  treat  the  Indians  as  with  the 
an  independent  people.  In  1648,  for 
example,  he  was  directed  by  Lieutenant-Governor 
Dudley  to  take  into  custody  certain  Indians  who 
had  murdered  some  other  Indians.  In  his  answer 
Mr.  Pynchon  convinced  Governor  Dudley  that 
neither  the  murderers  nor  those  murdered  were, 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Colony.  The  attempt 
to  interfere  was  at  once  abandoned  by  the  author- 
ities at  Boston.  But  whenever  the  Indians  com- 
mitted offences  against  our  own  people,  Mr. 
Pynchon  claimed  jurisdiction,  and  by  a  wise 
blending  of  authority,  with  an  appeal  to  the  In- 
dian's sense  of  justice,  he  commonly  succeeded  in 
securing  redress.  The  Indians  had  confidence  in 
him,  and  were  plainly  ready  to  be  guided  by  his 
washes. 

Besides  his  public  duties,  Mr.  Pynchon  was  an 
active  business  man.  The  trade  in  beaver  and 
other  furs  was  very  lucrative,  and  this  trade  in  the 
vicinity  of  Springfield  was  controlled  by  him.  To 
facilitate  this  trade,  he  early  established  a  ware- 
house near  the  southern  limit  of  what  was  then 
considered  Springfield.  This  place  still  retains 
the  name  of  Warehouse  Point,  and  is  a  station 

^  Address  by  Judge  Morris,  1876. 


200       THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

on  the  railroad  below  Springfield.  It  was  for 
many  years  the  centre  of  an  extensive  trade  with 
the  Indians,  and  was  the  point  from  which  the 
furs  were  shipped  to  England.  Mr.  Pynchon 
added  very  largely  to  his  fortune  while  in 
Springfield,  and  at  the  time  of  his  return  to 
Enorland  was  one  of  the  richest  men  in  New 
England. 

He  was  also  the  representative  man  of  Spring- 
field abroad.  The  communications  of  the  govern- 
ment at  Boston  were  made  through  him.  For  a 
few  years  after  he  went  to  Springfield  he  was 
naturally  left  off  from  the  Board  of  Assistants. 
But,  in  1643,  the  Colony  having  become  well 
established,  and  the  Bay  Path  more  easily  passed 
over,  Mr.  Pynchon  was  again  elected  an  Assis- 
tant, and  was  re-elected  annually  until  1650. 


V. 

This  brings  us  to  the  time  of  the  publication 
of  Mr.  Pynchon's  famous  book,  entitled  "  The 
Meritorious  Price  of  Our  Redemption."  It  is  a 
small  quarto  volume  of  a  hundred  and  fifty-eight 
pages,  "  printed  in  London,  by  T.  M.  and  George 
Whittington  and  James  Moxon,  and  to  be  sold 
at  the  Blue  Anchor  in  Cornhill,  near  the  Royal 
Exchange,  1650."  It  is  now  exceedingly  rare. 
There  is  one  copy  in  the  Congregational  Library, 


WILLIAM  PYNCHON,  GENT.  201 

Boston,  one  in  the  British  Museum,  and  only  one 
other,  so  far  as  I  can  learn,  —  that  an  elegantly 
bound  copy  that  has  been  recently  purchased 
by  Rev.  Thomas  R.  Pynchon,  D.D.,  of  Hart- 
ford, Connecticut.  Some  years  ago  this  copy 
brought  four  hundred  dollars,  a  larger  sum  than 
the  whole  edition  cost  in  the  beginning. 

This  book  was  received  in  Boston  in  the 
summer  of  1650,  and  produced  a  great  excite- 
Mr.  pynchon's  mcut.  The  General  Court,^  coming 
Famous  Book,  together  in  October,  adopted  a  solemn 
protest  against  the  many  errors  and  heresies  of 
the  book.  This  protest  was  made,  they  say,  "  for 
vindication  of  the  truth,"  and  also  "  to  keep  the 
people  here  committed  to  our  care  in  the  true 
knowledge  and  faith  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ; " 
*'  and  likewise,  for  the  clearing  of  ourselves  to 
our  Christian  brethren  and  others  in  England," 
"  where  this  book  was  printed  and  is  dispersed." 
They  protest  their  innocency,  as  not  "  privy  to 
the  writinge,  composinge,  printinge,  nor  divul- 
ginge  thereof,"  and  declare  that  they  "  detest  and 
abhorre  many  of  the  opinions  and  assertions 
therein,  as  false,  erronyous,  and  hereticale ;  "  and 
for  proof  of  their  sincerity  in  this  protest  they 
"  condemne  the  said  booke  to  be  burned  in  the 
market  place,  at  Boston,  by  the  common  execu- 
tioner."     They  also  summon   Mr.    Pynchon    to 

1  Mass.  Records,  vol.  iii.  215. 


202      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


appear  before  the  next  General  Court  to  answer 
whether  "  he  will  owne  the  booke  as  his  or  not, 
which,  if  he  doth,  we  purpose  (God  willinge)  to 
proceed  with  him  according  to  his  demerits, 
unless  he  retract  the  same."  It  was  also  ordered 
that  Mr.  John  Norton,  of  Ipswich,  "  should  be 
entreated  to  answer  Mr.  Pynchon's  book  with 
all  convenient  speed."  It  was  also  ordered,  — 
and  this  casts  light  upon  the  motive  for  these 
rapid  and  extreme  measures,  —  that  the  foregoing 
declaration  "  be  signed  by  the  Secretary,  and  sent 
to  England  to  be  printed  there."  No  one  can  tell, 
at  this  distance  of  time,  all  the  reasons  for  this 
unusual  action  by  the  General  Court.  It  is  plain 
that  it  was  not  simply  a  judicial  proceeding. 
There  were  politics  in  the  case.  The  state  of 
parties ;  the  opinions  of  men  who  happened  to  be, 
just  at  that  time,  at  the  head  of  affairs ;  the  fears 
of  those  who  were  most  solicitous  to  maintain  a 
certain  type  of  theological  opinion  ;  the  presence 
in  the  Colony  of  men  whose  views  were  more 
liberal,  and  the  desire  to  hold  them  in  check,  — 
all  these  entered  into  the  motives  of  those  who 
controlled  the  action  of  the  General  Court. 

Mr.  Pynchon  was  an  honored  magistrate,  a 
member  for  many  years  of  the  General  Court,  a 
gentleman  now  past  his  sixtieth  year,  whose 
opinions  had  been  treated  with  great  respect 
throughout  the  history  of  the  Colony,  and  who  was 


WILLIAM  PYNCHON,  GENT.  2O3 

certainly  entitled  to  be  treated  with  great  consid- 
eration. But  the  defection  of  such  a  man  from 
the  truth,  as  it  was  held  by  men  like  Endicott 
and  Dudley,  would  be  a  very  serious  matter,  and 
one  that  must  be  corrected  if  possible.  There 
was  a  law  of  Massachusetts,  passed  four  years 
before,  which  condemned  to  fine  and  banishment 
whosoever  should  "go  about  to  subvert  and 
destroy  the  Christian  faith  and  religion  by 
broaching  and  maintaining "  certain  "  damnable 
heresies,"  among  which  was  specified  that  of 
"  denying  that  Christ  gave  himself  a  ransom  for 
our  sins."-^  This,  the  book  was  understood  to  do. 
Mr.  Palfrey  also  suggests  that  there  was  an  un- 
usual solicitude  in  the  Colony  as  to  the  course  of 
affairs  in  England,  after  the  execution  of  King 
Charles,  and  also  that  the  moderating  influence 
of  Governor  Winthrop  was  removed  just  at  this 
time.^  We  know  that  Thomas  Dudley  was  Gov- 
ernor,^ and  John  Endicott  Deputy  Governor,  both 
of  w4iom  were  men  disposed  to  favor  extreme 
measures  for  the  maintenance  of  their  standard  of 
orthodoxy.  A  letter  written  by  John  Cotton  to 
certain  brethren  in  England,  at  the  time,  shows 
that  the  action  was  hastened  by  the  fact  that  "  a 

1  This  is  the  statement  of  Mr.  Palfrey.    He  cites  Mass.  Records, 
vol.  ii.  177;  Code  of  1658,  34. 

2  Palfrey's  History,  vol.  ii.  395,  note. 
2  Mass.  Records,  vol.  iii.  182. 


204      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

ship  was  in  the  harbor,  ready  to  sail  for  England." 
"Now  the  court,"  ^  he  says,  "perceiving  by  the 
title-page,  that  the  contents  of  the  book  were  un- 
sound and  derogatory  both  to  the  justice  of  God 
and  the  grace  of  Christ,  which  would  do  great 
harm,  they  judged  it  meet,  whilst  the  ship  stayed, 
to  declare  their  own  judgement  against  the  book, 
and  to  send  a  copy  of  their  declaration  to  England 
by  that  ship." 


VI. 

The  book  itself  is  worthy  of  more  than  a  pass- 
ing notice  as  a  part  of  the  history  of  the  times. 
It  is  the  production  of  a  very  intelligent  layman, 
living  upon  the  outermost  rim  of  civilization,  and 
moved  by  the  currents  of  theological  opinion  in 
Character  his  time  to  put  forth  his  independent 
of  the  Book,  protest  agaiust  opinions  that  seemed  to 
him  inconsistent  with  the  Word  of  God.  Those 
were  the  days  of  the  Westminster  Assembly, 
which  sat  from  1643  to  1647.  The  Assembly 
had  carried  the  expression  of  Calvinistic  doctrine 
further  than  moderate  Puritans  like  Mr.  Pynchon 
would  be  ready  to  go.  For  Mr.  Pynchon,  like 
many  of  those  who  came  with  Governor  Win- 
throp,  had  been  a  devout  member  of  the  Church 
of  Endand.      He  was  one  of  the  wardens  in  the 

^  Appendix  to  John  Norton's  Answer  to  Pynchon. 


WILLIAM  PYNCHON,  GENT.  205 

church  in  Springfield,  in  Old  England.^  His 
theological  opinions  had  been  formed  under  the 
preaching  of  the  ministers  of  the  Established 
Church,  rather  than  under  the  Calvinistic  preach- 
ers of  New  England.  He  was  properly  a  Non- 
Conformist,  but  not  a  Separatist. 

The  assembly^  declares  that  Christ  "bore  the 
weight  of  God's  wrath  ;  "  "  laid  down  his  life  an 
offering  for  sin  ;  "  "  satisfied  divine  justice  ;  "  was 
"  under  the  infinite  wrath  of  God  ;  "  that  He  "  did 
fully  discharge  the  debt  of  "  the  elect,  "  and  did 
make  a  proper,  real,  and  full  satisfaction  to  his 
Father's  justice  in  their  behalf ; "  that  we  are 
justified  by  the  "  imputing  the  obedience  and  satis- 
faction of  Christ  "  unto  us  ;  that  God  "  imputes 
the  riorhteousness  of  Christ  "  unto  us.^  The  min- 
isters  of  New  England  were  accustomed  to  use 
language  which  went  further  than  these  guarded 
statements  of  the  Assembly.  John  Norton,  in 
his  reply  to  Pynchon,  maintains,  in  an  elaborate 
argument,  that  the  sins  of  the  elect  were  Imputed 
to  our  Saviour ;  that  for  their  sins  He  suffered  the 
torments  of  hell,  and  that  the  righteousness  of 
Christ  is  imputed  to  the  elect. 

The  heresies  which  the  General  Court  found 

1  These  facts  are  given  on  the  authority  of  Professor  Pynchon, 
of  Hartford,  who  states  that  there  is  a  tablet  in  the  church  in  Spring- 
field which  shows  the  fact. 

2  Larger  Catechism,  ii.  49.     Ibid.,  ii.  38. 

3  Confession,  xi.  s.  11,  ch.  xi.  i.   Larger  Catechism,  271. 


206       THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

upon  the  title-page  of  Mr.  Pynchon's  book  were 
these  :  That  Christ  did  not  suffer  for  us  those 
unutterable  torments  of  God's  wrath  which  com- 
monly are  called  hell  torments ;  and  that  He  did 
not  bear  our  sins  by  imputation,  and  consequently 
did  not  bear  the  curse  of  the  Law  for  them ;  and 
also  that  the  righteousness  of  Christ  is  not  im- 
puted to  us.  The  most  vigorous  part  of  the  book 
is  the  discussion  of  the  texts  of  Scripture  which 
are  supposed  to  prove  that  our  sins  were  imputed 
to  Christ,  and  that  He  suffered  the  wrath  of  God, 
and  the  punishment  due  for  the  sins  of  the  elect. 
The  discussion  of  Isa.  liii.  4-6;  2  Cor.  v.  21  ; 
Ps.  xxii.  I  ;  Matt.  xxvi.  37 ;  Luke  xxii.  43-44  ; 
and  Heb.  v.  7,  is  very  close  and  logical.  I  have 
followed  his  reasonings  with  great  interest.  He 
shows  an  acquaintance  with  the  Hebrew  and 
Greek  texts,  refers  to  the  Septuagint  version,  com- 
pares the  rendering  of  various  passages  in  the 
Genevan  version  with  that  in  Tyndale,  and  in 
King  James's  version.  He  was  a  correspondent 
of  Ainsworth,  and  quotes  in  support  of  his  opinions 
an  autograph  letter  from  that  theologian.  He 
scholarship  of  q^otes  Aiusworth,  Broughton,  Robert 
Mr.pynchon.  Wilmot,  John  Calviu,  Martin  Luther, 
Nichols,  Richardson,  Ursinus,  Bastingius,  Good- 
win, Palanus,  John  Forbes,  and  St.  Augustine, 
thirteen  in  all  of  the  great  theologians. 

Following  this  polemic  part  of  the  book  is  the 


WILLIAM  PYNCHON,  GENT.  20/ 

constructive  part,  in  which  he  attempts  to  define 
the  real  basis  of  our  redemption.  In  this  he  starts 
from  the  passage  in  Rom.  v.  19,  which  reads  :  "  For 
as  by  one  man's  disobedience  many  were  made 
sinners,  so  by  the  obedience  of  one  shall  many  be 
made  righteous."  He  holds  that  as  Adam's  diso- 
bedience  ruined  the  world,  so  Christ's  perfect 
obedience,  as  our  Mediator,  redeemed  the  w^orld. 
Christ  had  His  work  set  before  Him  by  the  Father. 
This  was  the  work  which  He  had  completed,  when 
He  said,  "  I  have  finished  the  work  w^hich  Thou 
gavest  me  to  do." -^  If  His  obedience  had  been  in 
the  slightest  degree  imperfect,  it  would  have  viti- 
ated the  entire  work.  His  death  was  the  final  test 
of  His  obedience.  If  He  had  died  unwillingly  He 
had  died  in  vain.  So  the  death  of  Christ  was  a 
voluntary  death.  "  I  lay  down  my  life  that  I  might 
take  it  again.  No  man  taketh  it  from  me,  but  I 
lay  it  down  of  myself.  I  have  power  to  lay  it  down, 
and  I  have  power  to  take  it  again." ^  Mr.  Pynchon 
says :  "  His  divine  nature  was  the  altar  upon  which 
He  sacrificed  His  human  nature."  His  humanity 
was  the  oblation.  "  Then,"  he  goes  on  to  say, 
"  His  mediatorial  death  may  well  be  xhe  Death  of 
called  a  miraculous  death.     It  was  no  c^^^st 

.  ,  .   .  Voluntary. 

less   miraculous    than   the  raising   the 

dead  body  of  Lazarus."    The  Devil  and  his  agents 

had  power  to  bruise  Him,  and  buffet  Him,  and  to 

1  John  xvii.  4.  2  John  x.  17-18. 


208      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

nail  Him  to  the  cross.  But  they  had  no  power  to 
separate  His  soul  from  His  body.  So  His  death 
was  not  passive.  It  was  active,  and  so  a  part  of  His 
mediatorial  obedience.  He  quotes  Augustine,  who 
says,  "  Who  can  sleep  when  he  wist,  as  Christ  died 
when  He  would  }  Who  can  lay  aside  his  garment, 
as  Christ  laid  aside  His  flesh?  Who  can  leave  his 
place  so  as  Christ  left  His  life.^"^  Christ  died 
before  the  thieves,  so  that  "  Pilate  marvelled  if  He 
w^ere  already  dead."  ^  He  died  when  the  life  of 
obedience  set  for  Him  was  finished,  "  w^hereof 
His  mediatorial  death  was  the  master-piece."  He 
said  that  it  was  "  finished,"  and  then,  "  He  bowed 
His  head  and  gave  up  the  ghost."  ^  So  Christ  did 
not  suffer  the  wrath  of  God,  but  He  did  the  will 
of  God.  We  m.ay  be  saved  because  the  law,  which 
was  broken  by  disobedience,  was  honored  and 
restored  by  the  obedience  of  the  God-man. 


vn. 

It  was  ordered  by  the  General  Court,  after  they 
had  burned  Mr.  Pynchon's  book,  "  that  Mr.  Norton, 
Action  of  the  o^^  ^^  the  rcvcrcnd  elders  of  Ipswich, 
General  Court,  ghould  be  intrcatcd  to  answer  Mr. 
Pynchon's  booke  with  all  convenient  speed."* 
This  John  Norton  was  a  man  of  great  reputation 

1  Tractate  upon  John,  119.  ^  John  xix.  30. 

2  Mark  xv.  44.  ■*  Mass.  Records,  vol.  iii.  216. 


WILLIAM  PYNCHON,  GENT.  209 

in  his  day.  He  was  a  student  at  Cambridge 
University,  and  was  master  of  an  elegant  Latin 
style.  He  succeeded  John  Cotton  as  pastor  of 
the  First  Church  in  Boston.-^  His  widow,  Madame 
Norton,  gave  the  Old  South  the  ground  on  which 
the  Old  South  meeting-house  on  Washington 
Street  now  stands.^  Mr.  Norton's  reply  is  entided, 
"  A  Discussion  of  that  Great  Point  in  Divinity, 
the  Sufferings  of  Christ."  It  is  a  very  able  and 
learned  work,  thoroughly  scientific  in  its  methods, 
and  sets  forth  the  doctrine  of  the  Westminster 
Assembly  concerning  the  Atonement,  and  goes 
beyond  that  Confession  in  respect  to  Imputation.^ 
For  this  work  Mr.  Norton  received  from  the  Gen- 
eral Court  the  sum  of  ;^20,  with  a  vote  of  thanks ; 
and  they  sent  his  book  to  England  to  be  printed. 
In  addition  to  providing  for  a  reply  to  Mr. 
Pynchon's  book,  the  General  Court  advised  him  to 
confer  with  Mr.  John  Cotton,  Mr.  Norrice,  and 
Mr.  Norton  about  some  points  in  his  book.*  His 
conference  with  them  naturally  broadened  his  view 
of  the  subject  he  had  in  hand.^  He  had  been  but 
a  solitary  thinker,  and  in  giving  emphasis  to  his 
protest  against  the  extreme  satisfaction  theory,  he 

1  Memorial  Hislory  of  Boston,  vol.  i.  464.     Sprague's  Annals, 
Congl.,  vol.  i.  58.     See  this  volume,  123. 

2  Memorial  History  of  Boston,  vol.  i.  194. 
8  Palfrey,  vol.  ii.  396,  note. 

4  Mass.  Records,  vol.  iii.  239,  also,  248. 

5  Mass.  Records,  vol.  iii.  229. 

14 


210      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

had  failed  to  do  justice  to  the  relation  of  the  work 
of  the  Redeemer  to  sin  and  guilt.  This,  as  a 
conscientious  man,  he  was  more  than  willing  to 
acknowledge.  Accordingly  he  appeared  before 
the  General  Court,  in  May,  1651,  with  the  follow- 
ing paper : — 

'*  According  to  the  Court's  advice,  I  have  Conferred 
with  Mr.  Cotton,  Mr.  Norrice,  and  Mr.  Norton 
statement  of  ^bout  some  points  of  the  greatest  conse- 
Mr.  Pynchon  quence  in  my  book,  and  I  hope  I  have  so 
explayned  my  meaninge  to  them  as  to  take 
off  the  worst  construction;  and  it  hath  pleased  God  to 
let  me  see  that  I  have  not  spoken  in  my  book  so  fully 
of  the  price,  and  merit  of  Christ  sufferings  as  I  should 
have  done,  for  in  my  booke  I  call  them  but  trialls  of  his 
obedience,  yet  intending  thereby  to  amplyfy  and  exalt 
the  mediatorial  obedyence  of  Christ  as  the  only  merito- 
rious price  of  man's  redemption  :  but  now,  at  present,  I 
am  much  inclined  to  think  that  his  sufferings  were  ap- 
pointed by  God  for  a  further  end,  namely,  as  the  due 
punishment  of  our  sins  by  way  of  satisfaction  to  divine 
justice  for  man's  redemption. 

"  Your  humble  servant,  in  all  dutifull  respects, 
"  William  Pynchon."  ^ 

VIII. 

This  is  spoken  of  by  several  authorities  as  a 
retraction;  and   Dr.   Holland Mntimates  that  he 

^  Mass.  Records,  vol.  lii.  229. 

2  Holland's  History,  vol.  i.  38.    Art.  on  Pynchon  in  N.  E.  Hist, 
and  Gen.  Register,  Oct.  1859. 


WILLIAM  PYNCHON,  GENT.  2  1 1 


"was  convinced  against  his  will."  But  there  is 
no  retraction  here;  but  only  a  frank  statement  by 
a  sincere  and  ingenuous  man  that  after  confer- 
ence with  his  friends,  the  learned  divines,  he  had 
become  satisfied  that  in  one  respect  he  had  failed 
to  do  justice  to  one  side  of  an  important  truth  ; 
and  further,  that  he  found  that  some  of  his  ex- 
pressions had  been  misunderstood.  Certainly, 
Mr.  Pynchon  was  not  the  man  to  be  "  convinced 
against  his  will,"  or  to  retract  any  statement  which 
he  believed  to  be  true.  Besides,  as  we  shall  see, 
Mr.  Pynchon  was  really  master  of  the  situation, 
and  his  opponents  had  more  occasion  to  fear  him 
than  he  had  to  fear  them.  That  his  paper  was 
not  taken  as  a  retraction  is  evident  also  from  the 
action  of  the  Court,  which  voted  that  this  paper 
showed  Mn  Pynchon  to  be  in  a  hopeful  way,  and 
dismissed  him  till  the  October  session  to  study 
the  questions  by  the  aid  of  Mr.  Norton's  reply, 
directing  that  he  should  appear  in  October  and 
give  all  due  satisfaction. 

At  this  session  of  the  General  Court  Mr.  Pyn- 
chon was  not  re-elected  one  of  the  Assistants, 
and  was  left  out  of  the  magistracy.  In  October, 
he  failed  to  appear,  and  the  General  Court  ^  judged 
it  "  meete  that  all  patience  be  exercised  towards 
him,  that  he  may  be  reduced  into  the  way  of  truth, 
and  renounce  his  errors  and  heresies,"  and  there- 

^  Mass.  Records,  vol.  iii.  257. 


212      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


fore,  as  nothing  else  was  possible,  gave  him  until 
the  next  General  Court  in  May,  ''that  he  may 
give  full  satisfaction  for  his  offence,  which  they 
more  desire  than  to  proceed  to  so  great  a  censure 
as  his  offence  deserves."  So  he  was  placed  under 
bonds  of  ^loo  to  appear  in  May  "  to  stand  to  the 
judgement  and  censure  of  the  Courte." 

This  is  the  last  reference  to  this  case  in  the 
Records    of    Massachusetts.      Mr.    Pynchon    did 
not   appear  at  the    next   session    of   the    Court. 
Whether  his  bail  of  ;^ioo  was  forfeited  we  have 
no  means  of  knowing.     During  that  year,  he  re- 
turned to  England.      Of  course  he  went  openly, 
and  probably  sailed  from  Boston.      A  part  of  his 
family  followed  him  ;  but  his  son  John  remained 
in   Springfield,  and  became  the  most  important 
man  in  the  Colony,  succeeding  to  his  father's  in- 
fluence   and    authority.      Thus   it   appears    that, 
notwithstanding  the  vigorous  terms  employed  by 
the  General  Court  in  October,  1650,  proposing, 
"(God  willing)  to  proceed   with"  Mr.  Pynchon 
"  according  to  his  demerits,  unless  he  retracts  his 
heresies,"  he  yet  remained  within  their  jurisdic- 
tion for  about  two  years,  and  in  that  time  appeared 
before  them  only  once,  although  summoned  three 
times,  and  in  the  end  chose  his  own   time   for 
leaving  the  Colony,  and  retiring,  with  his  princely 
fortune,  to  his  estate  in  England. 

It  deserves  to  be  mentioned,  as  a  part  of  the 


WILLIAM  PYNCHON,  GENT.  213 

history  of  the  times,  that  Sir  Henry  Vane  wrote 
to  the  Magistrates,  complaining  of  the  course  they 
had  taken,  and  was  answered  in  a  joint  Letters  from 
letter  by  nine  of  them.^  A  letter  was  ^"^^^^• 
also  written  by  certain  men  of  influence  in  Eng- 
land to  the  ministers  of  Boston,  and  others,  urging 
them  to  set  a  favorable  construction  upon  the 
tenets  set  forth  in  Mr.  Pynchon's  book  "  as  dis- 
putable, and  to  some  of  note  probable  ; "  and 
requesting  the  ministers  to  "intercede  with  the 
Magistrates  to  deal  favorably  with  him,  as  a 
gentleman  pious,  and  deserving."  ^  To  this  letter 
a  reply  was  made,  signed  by  John  Cotton,  Richard 
Mather,  and  three  others,  which  explained  the 
occasion  of  the  promptness  of  the  Court  in  its 
first  action,  and  stated  that  the  Court  was  dis- 
posed to  deal  favorably  with  the  author  of  the 
book,  appointing  three,  all  friends  and  acquain- 
tances, such  as  himself  chose,  to  confer  with  him, 
and  finding  him  yielding  in  some  main  point, 
which  he  willingly  expressed  under  his  own  hand, 
the  Court  readily  accepted  the  same.^ 

1  Palfrey's  New  England,  vol.  ii.  396. 

2  Appendix  to  Norton's  Answer  to  Pynchon. 

3  The  following  is  on  the  first  page  of  John  Eliot's  record  of 
church  members,  Roxbury,  Mass.  :  — 

"  Ml  William  Pinchon  :  he  was  chosen  an  Assistant,  yearely  so 
long  as  he  lived  among  us  :  his  wife  dyed  soone  after  he  landed  at 
N.  Eng  :  he  brought  4  children  to  N.  E.  Ann,  Mary,  John,  Margret. 
After  some  years  he  married  M"^  Francis  Samford,  a  grave  matron 


214      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


IX. 

On  arriving  in  England,  Mr.  Pynchon  settled 
in  Wraysbury,  on  the  Thames,  in  Buckingham- 
HisLifein  shire.  This  place  is  in  the  very  heart 
England.  q[  England,  about  three  miles  below 
Windsor  Castle,  and  directly  opposite  Magna 
Charta  Island  and  Runnymede.  Horton,  where 
Milton  at  one  time  lived,  is  an  adjoining  town. 
He  found  himself  under  the  Puritan  Common- 
wealth, in  England,  which  must  have  been  agree- 
able to  one  of  his  political  and  religious  opinions. 
In  the  enjoyment  of  an  ample  fortune,  surrounded 
by  many  friends  of  his  earlier  life,  with  abundant 
leisure,  Mr.  Pynchon  appears  to  have  given  the 

of  the  church  at  Dorchester.  When  so  many  removed  fro  these 
parts  to  Plant  Conecicot  riv  he  also  w^-  othr  company  went  thith?: 
&  planted  at  a  place  called  Agawam,  &  was  recomended  to  the 
church  at  Windsor  on  Conecticott,  vntill  such  time  as  it  should 
please  God  to  pvide  y^  they  might  enter  into  church  estate  among 
themselves,  his  daughter  Ann :  was  married  to  M.i  Smith,  sone  to 
M!^  Samford  by  a  former  husband  he  was  a  Godly,  wise  young  man, 
&  removed  to  As^awam  w*-l>  his  parents.  His  daughter  mary  was 
married  to  M":  Hollioke,  the  sone  of  W-  Hollioke  of  Linn  ;  Mi:  Pin- 
chons  ancient  freind. 

"  Afterwards  he  wrote  a  Dialogue  concerning  Justification,  w^i 
was  printed  anno  1650,  stiled  the  meritorious  price,  a  book  full  of 
error  &  weaken?,  &  some  heresies  w-^-'^  the  Generall  Court  of  ye 
Massachusetts  Condemned  to  be  burnt,  &  appointed  Mi  John 
Norton  then  Teacher  at  Ipswich  to  confute  ye  errors  contained 
therein." 


WILLIAM  PYNCHON,  GENT.  21 5 

ten  remaining  years  of  his  life  to  study  and  writ- 
ing. The  man  who  had  helped  in  gathering  two 
Congregational  churches  in  New  England,  re- 
turned to  the  Church  of  England,  and  was  buried 
in  the  ancient  churchyard,  under  the  shadow  of 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  the  rural  churches  of 
Old  England.^ 

The  year  of  his  arrival  in  England  he  pub- 
lished :  — 

"  The  Jews'  Synagogue,  a  Treatise  concerning 
the  Worship  used  by  the  Jews.  Quarto.  London, 
1652.     John  Bellamie." 

Two  years  later,  he  published  two  treatises  on 
the  Sabbath :  — 

"  The  Time  when  the  First  Sabbath  was  or- 
dained. By  William  Pynchon,  Esq.  Published 
by  authority.  London :  Printed  by  R.  G.,  and 
to  be  sold  by  T.  N.  at  the  Three  Lions  in  Corn- 
hill,  near  the  Royal  Exchange.     1654." 

"  Holy  Time :  or  The  True  Limits  of  the  Lord's 
Day.  By  William  Pynchon,  Esq.  Published  by 
authority.     Printed  at  London,  by  R.  G.,  and  are 

1  In  1886,  I  visited  Wraysbury.  The  railroad  station  is  a  small 
and  very  modest  one,  not  far  from  the  Thames,  and  about  twenty 
miles  from  London-  The  scenery  has  been  compared  to  that  of  the 
Connecticut  valley.  There  is  perhaps  a  suggestion  of  that  valley, 
and  of  the  hills  on  the  west,  but  the  Thames  at  that  point  is  much 
smaller  than  the  Connecticut.  In  that  quiet  retreat,  environed  by 
the  scenes  most  memorable  in  the  history  of  English  liberty,  this 
great  Puritan  found  the  repose  which  was  denied  him  in  Massachu- 
setts. 


2l6      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

to  be  sold  by  T.  N.,  at  the  sign  of  the  Three  Lions, 
in  Cornhill,  near  the  Royal  Exchange.     1654." 

Mr.  Norton's  answer  to  Mr.  Pynchon's  first 
book  was  not  published  till  1653.  Two  years  later, 
Mr.  Pynchon  published  a  rejoinder,  of  which  the 
following  is  the  title :  — 

"  The  Meritorious  Price  of  Man's  Redemption  ; 
or  Christ's  Satisfaction  Discussed  and  Explained. 
By  William  Pynchon,  late  of  New  England. 
1655.     Thomas  Newbury,  London,  1655." 

It  is  dedicated  to  Oliver  St.  John,  the  author 
esteeming  him  "  an  able  Judge,  not  only  in  those 
controversies  that  concern  the  common  laws  of 
the  land,  but  also  in  divine  controversies." 

This  is  a  quarto  of  four  hundred  and  forty 
pages,  and  is  by  far  the  most  elaborate  of  Mr. 
Pynchon's  works.  In  this  he  uses  the  "altar 
terms,"  as  they  have  been  called,  and  seems  to 
recognize  the  side  of  truth  to  which  he  referred 
in  his  letter  to  the  General  Court ;  namely,  that 
in  some  way  "  the  sufferings  of  Christ "  "  were 
appointed"  as  "the  due  punishment  of  our  sins, 
by  way  of  satisfaction  of  divine  justice."  He 
controverts  again,  with  great  ability,  the  doctrine 
that  our  Lord  suffered  the  vindictive  wrath  of 
God  and  the  torments  of  hell. 

A  copy  of  this  book  is  in  the  library  of  Harvard 
University. 

His  last  book  was  entitled :  "  The  Covenant  of 


WILLIAM  PYNCHON,  GENT.  21/ 

Nature  made  with  Adam  Described,  etc.,  and 
Cleared  from  Sundry  Great  Mistakes."  In  this 
volume  the  address  to  the  reader  is  dated :  "  From 
my  Study,  Wraysbury,  Feb.  lo,  1661." 

Mr.  Pynchon  died  at  Wraysbury  some  time  in 
October,  1662,  aged  seventy-two  years. 

He  was  twice  married.  No  record  that  I  have 
seen  gives  the  date  of  the  first  marriage,  or  the 
name  of  his  wife.  She  came  with  him  to  New 
England,  and  died  in  Roxbury  during  the  first 
year,  perhaps  in  consequence  of  the  hardships  of 
the  life  in  the  new  country.  The  children  of 
this  marriage  were :  — 

John,  born  1621  ; 

Annie,  who  married  Henry  Smith ; 

Margaret,  who  married  William  Davis,  of 
Boston  ; 

Mary,  who  married  Elizur  Holyoke ; 

And  a  son,  who  was  drowned  in  the  Connecticut 
River.^ 

After  the  death  of  his  wife,  Mr.  Pynchon  mar- 
ried Mrs.  Frances  Samford,  "  a  grave  matron  of 
the  church  at  Dorchester,"  as  the  Roxbury  church 
records  say,  but  they  do  not  give  the  date  of  the 
marriage.  Mrs.  Pynchon  died  at  Wraysbury, 
October  10,  1657. 

1  "  Mr.  Pynchon  lately  lost  a  boy,  who  tending  cows  near  our 
river,  too  venturously  went  into  a  birchen  canowe,  ^A^hich  overturned, 
and  he  was  drowned."  [Mr.  Moxon's  letter  to  Governor  Winthrop 
about  1638.]  —  Conn.  Valley,  vol.  i.  40. 


2l8      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


There  is  a  striking  portrait  of  Mr.  Pynchon  in 
the  possession  of  the  Essex  Historical  Society  of 
Salem.  It  was  painted  in  England,  and  sent  by 
him  to  his  son  John.  The  frontispiece  of  this 
volume  is  taken  from  that  painting.  With  his 
long,  closely-fitting  coat  and  small-clothes,  the 
broad  collar  or  band  of  linen  lying  flat  upon 
his  shoulders,  and  a  closely-fitting  silk  cap  upon 
his  head,  he  was  the  impersonation  of  quiet 
dignity,  and  patriarchal  grace.  His  seal  ring, 
with  his  arms,  is  still  in  existence,  in  the  pos- 
session of  a  descendant  at  the  South. 


V. 

The   Family   and   Social   Life   of 
the   Puritans, 


'  N        "0^(01)1  1  ^(^1      %.^  „  if-  i"'  (,  -*«*•  'TWfir 


COLONEL   JOHN    HUTCHINSON 
Ok  Owthorpk. 


The    Family   and   Social   Life   of 
the    Puritans, 

*'  T  T  OME,  as  we  conceive  it  now,"  says  Mr.  John 
^  ^  Richard  Green,  "  was  the  creation  of  the 
Puritan."  He  gives  the  reason  for  his  statement. 
"Wife  and  child  rose  from  mere  dependants  on  the 
will  of  husband  or  father,  as  husband  and  father 
saw  in  them  saints  like  himself,  souls  hallowed  by 
the  touch  of  a  divine  Spirit,  and  called  with  a  di- 
vine calling  like  his  own.  The  sense  of  spiritual 
fellowship  gave  a  new  tenderness  and  refinement 
to  the  common  family  affections."  ^  The  philo- 
sophic historian  is  undoubtedly  correct.  The 
Puritan  had  broken  away  from  the  old  traditions, 
and  from  ecclesiastical  bonds,  and  had  come  into 
a  realm  of  comparatively  free  and  liberal  thought. 
His  fellowship  was  with  the  Father,  and  with  His 
Son,  Jesus  Christ,  without  the  intervention  of  the 
priest  or  of  the  Church.  So  far  forth  he  was  a 
free  man,  in  personal  relations  with  God.  All  the 
members  of  his  family  were  equally  free,  and 
equally  the  favorites  of  God.     This  intense  indi- 

1  Green's  History  of  the  English  People,  vol.  iii.  19. 


222      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

vidualism  opened  a  new  social  life,  with  a  broader 
charity,  and  a  warmer  and  more  absorbing  love. 
It  developed  a  new  type  of  citizenship,  and  has 
tended  undoubtedly  toward  Democracy.  It  has 
lifted  the  common  man  to  an  equality  with  those 
in  the  privileged  classes.  The  religious  sentiment 
of  the  Puritans  has  developed  the  altruistic  feel- 
ins:,  so  abundant  in  modern  life. 

Some  illustrations  from  Puritan  history  will 
make  these  statements  plain,  and  will  set  forth 
the  reasons  for  them.  We  need  to  know  what 
sort  of  men  and  women  the  Puritans  were  in  their 
homes. 

I. 

Mrs.  Hutchinson,  writing  to  her  children  con- 
cerning their  father,  has  given  a  vivid  description 
of  that  model  Puritan,  Colonel  John  Hutchinson,^ 
of  Owthorpe,  who  lived  in  the  time  of  Oliver 
Cromwell     She  says  :  — 

''  He  was  of  a  middle  stature,  of  a  slender  and  exactly 
well-proportional  shape  in  all  parts,  his  hair  of  light 
CoLEntchiiisoii,  ^rown,  very  thick  set  in  his  youth,  softer  than 
a  Typical  the  finest  silk,  and   curling  into  loose  great 

Puritan.  ^.^^^  ^^  ^^^  ^^^^ .    j^j^  ^^^^  ^^  ^  lively  gray, 

his  visage  thin,  his  mouth  well  made,  and  his  lips  very 
ruddy  and  graceful ;  his  teeth  even  and  white  as  the  pur- 
est ivory,  his  forehead  not  very  high,  his  nose  raised  and 

1  See  his  portrait,  page  220. 


FAMILY  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THE  PURITANS.        223 

sharp;  but  withal  he  had  a  most  amiable  countenance, 
which  carried  in  it  something  of  magnanimity  and  majesty 
mixed  with  sweetness,  that  at  the  same  time  bespoke  love 
and  awe  in  all  that  saw  him."  '*  He  was  nimble  and  active 
and  graceful  in  all  his  motions ;  he  was  apt  for  any  bodily 
exercise  ;■  he  could  dance  admirably  well,  but  neither  in 
youth  nor  riper  years  made  any  practice  of  it ;  he  had  skill 
in  fencing,  such  as  became  a  gentleman ;  he  had  a  great 
love  of  music;  .  .  .  he  had  good  judgment  in  paintings, 
graving,  sculpture,  and  all  liberal  arts,  and  had  many 
curiosities  of  all  kinds ;  he  took  much  pleasure  in  the 
improvement  of  grounds,  in  planting  groves  and  walks, 
and  fruit  trees ;  he  was  wonderfully  neat,  cleanly  and 
genteel  in  his  habit."  *'  He  hated  persecution  for  reli- 
gion, and  was  always  a  champion  for  all  religious  people 
against  all  oppressors."  "  Neither  in  youth,  nor  riper 
age  could  the  most  fair  or  enticing  women  ever  draw 
him  into  unnecessary  familiarity  or  vain  converse  or  dal- 
liance with  them,  yet  he  despised  nothing  of  the  female 
sex  but  their  follies  and  vanities ;  wise  and  virtuous 
women  he  loved,  and  delighted  in  all  pure,  holy  and 
unblameable  conversation  with  them."  ''  For  conjugal 
affection  to  his  wife,  it  was  such  as  whosoever  would  draw 
out  a  rule  of  honor,  kindness  and  religion,  need  no  more, 
but  exactly  draw  out  his  example ;  never  man  had  a 
greater  passion  for  a  woman,  nor  a  more  honorable 
esteem  for  a  wife.  He  governed  by  persuasion,  which 
he  never  employed  but  to  things  honorable  and  profit- 
able for  herself  ;  he  loved  her  soul  and  her  honor  more 
than  her  outside,  and  yet  he  had  for  her  person  a  con- 
stant indulgence."  **  So  constant  was  he  in  his  love  that 
when  she  ceased  to  be  young  and  lovely,  he  began  to 
show  most  fondness ;   he  loved  her  at  such  a  kind  and 


224      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


generous  rate  as  words  cannot  express."  "  He  was  as 
kind  a  father,  as  dear  a  brother,  as  good  a  master,  and 
as  faithful  a  friend  as  the  world  had." 

''  He  understood  well,  and  as  well  performed  when  he 
undertook  it,  the  military  art  in  all  parts  of  it ;  he  nat- 
urally loved  the  employment  as  it  suited  with  his  active 
temper  more  than  any,  conceiving  a  mutual  delight  in 
leading  those  men  that  loved  his  conduct,  and  when  he 
commanded  soldiers,  never  was  man  more  loved  and 
reverenced  by  all  that  were  under  him,"  and  "they 
joyed  as  much  in  his  commands  as  he  in  their  obedience." 
"  He  had  a  sweet  and  loving  courtesy  to  the  poorest, 
and  would  often  employ  many  spare  hours  with  the 
commonest  soldiers  and  poorest  laborers."  ^ 

Yet  this  man,  so  gentle,  so  affectionate,  so 
highly  cultured,  was  a  Puritan  soldier  —  a  Colonel 
in  the  army  of  Cromwell  —  who  fought  vigorously 
through  the  civil  war.  He  was  one  of  the  judges 
who  condemned  the  king  to  death.  After  Oliver 
Cromwell  became  Lord  Protector,  Colonel  Hutch- 
inson disclosed  to  him  a  plot  against  his  life  ;  and 
when  Cromwell  called  him  "  My  dear  Colonel," 
and  invited  him  to  "come  in  and  take  a  part"  in 
his  government,  Hutchinson  refused,  telling  him 
plainly  that  he  liked  not  any  of  his  ways  since  he 
broke  up  the  Parliament.  After  the  restoration  of 
Charles  the  Second,  Colonel  Hutchinson  suffered 
a  long  and  cruel  imprisonment,  and  finally  died 
in  prison,  because  he  would  not  in  any  way  com- 

1  Memoirs  of  Colonel  Hutchinson,  Bohn's  Edition,  1863, 19-35' 


FAMILY  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THE  PURITANS.        225 

promise  his  principles,  or  betray  his  friends.  This 
man  was  one  of  the  Ironsides,  and  yet  his  family 
and  social  life  was  as  full  of  sweetness,  and  tender- 
ness, —  of  the  love  of  all  beautiful  and  gracious 
things, — as  the  lives  of  those  who  are  the 
choicest  spirits  of  our  own  time. 

Nor  did  Hutchinson  stand  alone  among  the 
Puritans  of  his  time.  John  Milton  is  the  com- 
pletest  type  of  Puritanism.  "  His  youth  shows 
us,"  says  a  recent  writer,  "  how  much  of  the  gay- 
ety,  the  poetic  ease,  the  intellectual  culture  of  the 
Renaissance  lingered  in  a  Puritan  home."  His  tract 
on  Education  is  one  of  the  broadest  and  most 
liberal  treatises  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 

John  Milton 

tury,  —  a  prophecy  of  the  nineteenth,  the  poet  of  the 
"  Whenever  the  element  of  beauty  is 
found  in  Milton,"  says  Professor  Shedd,  "  it  is 
found  in  absolute  purity."  "  A  more  absolute 
beauty  and  a  more  delicate  aerial  grace  are  not  to 
be  found  than  appear  in  the  Comus,  and  the  fourth 
book  of  Paradise  Lost."  ^ 

We  read  in  the  records  of  that  age,  of  a  certain 
Puritan  mother,  in  humble  life  in  England,  that 
"  she  was  very  loving  and  obedient  to  her  parents, 
loving  and  true  to  her  husband,  very  tender-hearted 
to  her  children,  loving  all  that  were  Godly."  These 
illustrations  of  the  Puritan  spirit  and  temper  can 
be  multiplied  from  the  records  of  that  age. 

^  Literary  Essays,  23. 
15 


226      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


II. 

One  of  the  reliable  sources  of  information  in 
respect  to  family  and  social  life  is  the  correspon- 
dence between  members  of  families.  Such  letters 
are  apt  to  be  destroyed,  especially  the  most  sig- 
nificant and  domestic  letters.  We  have,  fortu- 
nately, a  large  number  of  the  letters  which  passed 
between  Governor  John  Winthrop  and  his  wife, 
and  also  his  letters  to  his  son.  Winthrop 
was  in  many  ways  the  best  representative  of  the 
early  New  England  Puritans.  There  is  a  statue, 
in  one  of  the  public  squares  of  Boston, 

John  Winthrop,  .       ^  ^ 

the  Founder  of  to  John  Winthrop,  "  Founder  of  Massa- 
chusetts," with  the  Bible  in  one  hand, 
and  the  charter  of  the  Colony  in  the  other. 
Another  statue  of  him  is  in  the  chapel  of  the 
cemetery  at  Mount  Auburn.  Another  statue  of 
him,  as  a  representative  of  the  State,  stands  in  the 
Capitol  at  Washington.  He  was  for  eleven  years 
the  Governor  of  the  Colony,  and  as  long  as  he 
lived,  he  was  its  foremost  citizen.  From  his  let- 
ters and  his  journals,  we  derive  our  most  definite 
knowledge  of  the  life  in  the  Colony  in  the  first 
generation.  He  was  born  in  England,  in  1588,  so 
that  he  was  forty-two  when  he  came  to  New 
England.  Margaret  Tyndal  was  his  third  wife. 
When  Adam  Winthrop,  the  aged  father  of  John 


FAMILY  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THE  PURITANS.        22/ 

Winthrop,  learned  that  she  was  betrothed  to  his 
son,  he  sent  her  a  present,  with  a  letter  in  which 
he  addressed  her  as  "  Gentle  Mistress  Margaret," 
and  assured  her  of  his  fatherly  love  and  affection, 
spelling  Love  with  a  capital  letter,  and  told  her 
with  the  frankness  of  a  patriarch,  that  he  thought 
himself  happy  that  in  his  old  age  "  I  shal  injoye 
the  familiar  company  of  so  virtuous  and  loving  a 
daughter  and  passe  the  residue  of  my  daise  in 
peace  and  quietness."  "  I  doe  heare  faithfully 
promise  for  my  sonne  that  he  will  alwaise  be  a 
most  kinde  and  lovinge  husbande  unto  you." 

Our  first  letter  from  John  Winthrop  is  addressed 
to  "  My  clearest  friend  and  most  heartily  beloved 
Mrs.  Marg-  Tyndall."  This  was  before  their 
marriage.  The  next  is  addressed  to  "  My  onely 
beloved  spouse,  my  most  sweet  friend,  ^^^^^^^^ 
and  faithful  companion  of  my  pilgrim-  John  winthrop 

-.1  rill  to  ^S  '^'^'^' 

age,  the  happye,  and  hopefull  supplye 
(next  Christ   Jesus)  of  my  greatest  losses."     He 
says  at  the  end,  "  My  father  and  mother  salute 
thee  heartily." 

The  next  is  addressed  to  "  My  deare  wife,"  and 
was  written  when  she  was  away  from  home  attend- 
ing at  her  mother's  bedside  in  her  last  sickness. 
Later,  he  writes  to  her  as  "  My  Truely  Beloved 
and  Deare  wife  ;  "  "  My  sweet  wife  ;  "  "  My  most 
Deare  and  Sweet  Spouse;"  "  My  Good  Wife ; " 
"  My  Deare  Wife,  my  Chiefe  Love  in  this  World ;  " 


228      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

and  he  subscribes  the  letters,  "  Thyne  ; "  "  Thy 
faithful  husband  ;  "  "  Thine  as  his  owne  ;  "  "  Thy 
faithful  husband,  still  present  with  thee  in  his  most 
unkind  absence ;  "  "  So  I  kiss  my  sweet  wife,  and 
rest,  Thy  frail  but  faithful  husband." 

She  begins  her  letter,  "  My  Dear  Husband  ; " 
and  ends  it  with,  "  Your  loving  and  obedient  wife  ;  " 
"  Most  Deare  and  Lovinge  Husband,"  and  "  Your 
obedient  wife  allways  ; "  "  My  most  Kinde  and 
Loving  Husband,"  "  Your  lovinge  and  obedient 
wife."  In  one  letter  she  goes  quite  beyond  all  mod- 
ern precedents,  and  writes,  "  Thy  unworthy  wife." 

Here  is  a  letter,  written  at  Groton,  in  Suffolk, 
in  1630,  (n.  s.)  addressed  to  John  Winthrop,  Esq- 
at  Mr.  Downing's  house,  in  Fleet  Street,  and 
written  just  before  his  departure  for  New  England. 

"  My  Deare  Husband,  —  I  knowe  thou  art  desyrus 

to  heere  often  from  us,  w-  makes  me  take  plesure  in 

rightinge  to  thee,  and  in  relatinge  my  true  affections  to 

thee  and  desyers  of  your  wished  welfayer.  ...   I  must 

part  with  my  most  deare   Husban,  w-  is  a  very  hard 

tryall  for  me  to  undergoe.    If  the  Lord  doe  not  supporte 

and  healpe  me  in  it,  I  shalbe  unable  to  beare  it.     I  have 

now  received  thy  kinde  letter  w""''  I  cannot  reade  without 

sheding  a  great  many  tears,  but  I  will  resine  thee,  and 

,ur  *TT7.  sive  thee  into  the  hands  of  the  almiti  God, 
Margaret  Win-   » 

throp's  Letters  who  is  allsoficient  for  thee,  whome  I  truste 
to  her  HusDand.  ^j^j  j^^^^  th^e,  and  prosper  thee  in  the  way 
thou  art  to  goe.  ...  I  know  I  shall  have  thy  prayers  to 
God  for  me  that  what  is  wanting  in  thy  presence  may  be 


FAMILY  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THE  PURITANS.        229 

supplyed  by  the  comfort  of  God's  spirit.  I  am  now  full 
of  passion,  havinge  newly  received  thy  letter,  and  not 
able  to  right  much.  My  sonne  F.  will  right  about  other 
busines.  I  beginne  to  fear  I  shall  see  thee  no  more  before 
thou  goest  (to  New  England)  w-  I  should  be  very  sory 
for  and  earnestly  intreat  thee  that  thou  wilt  com  once 
more  downe  if  it  be  possible." 

The  Governor  did  "com  once  more  downe," 
after  such  a  letter  as  that.     He  wrote : 

•'  I  purpose  (if  God  will)  to  be  with  thee  upon  Thurs- 
daye  come  sehight,  and  then  I  must  take  my  Farewell 
of  thee,  for  a  Suiners  daye,  and  a  winters  daye.  The 
Lord  ol  good  God  will,  (I  hope)  sende  us  a  happye 
meetinge  againe  in  his  good  tyme  :  Amen."  "  Among 
other  things  let  the  brassen  quart  in  the  Larder  house 
be  putt  up :  &  my  gray  cloake  and  the  coate  w-  was  my 
brother  Fones :  &  let  this  warrant  inclosed  to  sent  to 
Colchester  to  M'  Sam-  Borrowes  by  the  next  tyme  the 
carte  goes.  The  Lord  blesse  thee  my  sweet  wife,  w-  all 
our  children." 

Thy  faithfull  husband, 
Feb:  5    1629.  (o.  s.)  Jo:  WiNTHROP. 

"  Remember  to  putt  me  up  some  Cardons  &  Card- 
seed."  ''The  readinge  of  (thy  letter) has  dissolved  my 
head  into  tears.  ...  If  I  live,  I  will  see  thee  ere  I goe, 
I  shall  parte  from  thee  with  sorrowe  enough :  be  com- 
fortable my  most  sweet  wife." 

She  wrote  again :  "  I  am  glad  to  heere  you  will 
come  home  this  weike,  for  I  desire  to  enjoy  thy 
sweete  presence  as  ofte  as  I  can,  before  that  longe 


230       THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


partinge  come  w-  I  desyre  the  Lord  to  fit  us  for." 
He  writes,  February  14th,  "  Thou  must  be  my  val- 
entine, f-  none  hath  challenged  me."  March  2d, 
the  Governor  writes  again,  having  in  the  mean- 
time been  home  to  Groton  to  say  farewell,  and 
returned  to  London  to  complete  his  arrangements 
for  the  voyage  to  New  England.  He  tells  her 
that  their  two  sons,  and  most  of  the  servants  have 
already  gone  to  South  Hampton:  and  adds,  "Ah 
my  most  kinde  &  deare  wife,  how  sweet  is  thy 
love  to  me.  The  Lorde  blesse  thee  &  thine,  w- 
the  blessinges  from  above.  ...  So  I  kisse  & 
embrace  thee  &  rest  thyne  ever."  March  loth,  he 
wrote  again,  sending  his  love  to  his  children  by 
name,  including  "  the  little  one  unknown,"  and  to 
each  of  the  servants,  and  to  his  old  neighbors. 
Four  days  later,  he  writes  again  from  Southamp- 
ton ;  on  the  2 2d,  there  is  another  letter  to  his 
wife,  written  "  aboard  the  Arabella  ridinge  at  the 
Cowes."  He  writes  once  more,  March  28th,  still 
on  board  the  ship,  which  had  been  detained  by 
adverse  winds.  "  Our  boys,"  he  says,  "  are  well, 
and  cheerful,  and  have  no  mind  of  home.  They 
lie  both  with  me,  and  sleep  as  soundly  in  a  rug, 
(for  we  use  no  sheets  here,)  as  ever  they  did  at 
Groton :  and  so  do  I  myself."  ''  Mondays  and 
Fridays,  at  five  of  the  clock  at  night  we  shall 
meet  in  spirit  till  we  meet  in  person."  "Yet  if 
all  these  hopes  should  fail,  blessed  be  our  God, 


FAMILY  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THE  PURITANS.        23  I 

that  we  are  assured  we  shall  meet  one  day,  if  not 
as  husband  and  wife,  yet  in  a  better  condition." 
Once  more,  before  the  fleet  set  out  on  its  voyage, 
he  wrote,  April  3d,  to  acknowledge  two  letters 
from  his  wife,  and  to  tell  her  that  "  on  friday 
when  5  of  the  clocke  came,"  he  "  had  respitt  from 
his  cares  "  to  remember  her,  and  to  "  parlye  "  with, 
and  meet  her  "  in  Spiritt  before  the  Lord." 

These  extracts  from  this  correspondence  — 
two  hundred  and  sixty  years  old  —  may  give 
some  impression  of  its  quality.  Time  blots  out 
almost  all  things  written  by  the  hand  of  man ;  but 
there  are  almost  a  hundred  of  these  letters,  which 
have  been  rescued  from  oblivion,  and  they  give 
us,  almost  at  first  hand,  repeated  glimpses  of 
the  actual  life  of  this  representative  Puritan 
family.  The  correspondence  which  passed  be- 
tween Governor  Winthrop  and  his  son  John, 
cannot  be  quoted  here,  for  lack  of  space,  but  it  is, 
in  its  own  way,  as  suggestive  of  the  tenderness, 
and  singular  wisdom,  and  piety  of  this  old  family, 
as  the  correspondence  from  which  these  scattered 
specimen  leaves  have  been  selected.^ 

1  Twenty-seven  of  these  letters  were  printed  in  1825,  in  the 
appendix  to  the  first  volume  of  Governor  Winthrop's  Journal.  The 
others  were  printed  in  The  Life  and  Letters  of  John  Winthrop,  by 
Hon.  Robert  C  Winthrop,  Boston,  1869,  and  also  in  the  Collections 
of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society.  Rev.  Joseph  H.  Twichell, 
of  Hartford,  Conn.,  edited  an  edition  of  fifty-tight  of  the  letters, 
with  the  title,  "  Some  Old  Puritan  Love  Letters,"  New  York,  1893. 
In  this  edition  the  old  spelling  is  very  carefully  restored. 


232       THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

It  was  the  i6th  of  July  before  Governor  Win- 
throp  had  an  opportunity  to  send  his  next  letter. 
The  mails  did  not  cross  the  Atlantic  as  frequently 
then  as  now.  They  had  a  long  and  tempestuous 
voyage,  and  his  letter  is  full  of  gratitude  for  their 
preservation,  as  well  as  of  affection  for  those  left 
in  the  old  home  at  Groton. 

It  was  the  3d  of  November  (o.  s.)  of  the  next 
year  when  Mrs.  Winthrop  was  able  to  join  her 
husband.  She  went  in  the  ship  Lyon,  with  his 
eldest  son,  and  other  of  his  children.  Great  was 
the  rejoicing  at  their  arrival.  "Divers  of  the 
Assistants,  and  most  of  the  people  of  the  near 
plantations  came  to  welcome  them,  and  brought, 
and  sent,  for  divers  days,  great  store  of  provisions, 
as  fat  hogs,  kids,  venison,  poultry,  geese,  partridges, 
etc.,  so  as  the  like  joy,  and  manifestation  of  love 
had  never  been  seen  in  New  England.  It  was  a 
great  marvel,"  said  Governor  Winthrop,  "  that  so 
much  people,  and  such  store  of  provisions  could 
be  o-athered  together  at  so  few  hours  warning."  ^ 


III. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  conjecture  what  the  social 
and  family  life  would  be  in  a  community  made  up 
of  such  men  and  women  as  those  seventeenth 

1  The  History  of  New  England,  from  1630  to  1649,  by  John 
Winthrop,  Esq.,  Boston,  1853. 


Records  of  the 

Colonial 

Period. 


FAMILY  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THE  PURITANS.        233 

century  Puritans  of  whom  we  have  been  reading. 
Such  gentleness,  and  affection,  and  refinement  of 
feeling,  and  such  piety  would  bear  fruit  in  the 
most  beautiful  lives. 

But  the  records  that  have  come  down  to  us 
from  the  Colonial  period  of  New  England  history 
give  us  a  distinct  picture  of  life  as  it 
actually  went  on  from  year  to  year.  It  coioniai 
is  marvellous  how  abundant  these 
records  are.  Those  old  Pilgrims  had  a  respect 
for  their  mission,  and  they  were  sure  that  those 
who  should  come  after  them  would  desire  to  know 
their  history.  We  have,  first  of  all,  the  incompar- 
able histories  written  by  Governor  Bradford  of 
Plymouth,  and  by  Governor  Winthrop  of  Boston. 
They  cover  the  time  from  the  earliest  settlements 
to  1646.  We  have  also  the  official  records,  not 
only  of  these  two  oldest  colonies,  but  of  Rhode 
Island,  Connecticut,  and  New  Hampshire.  These 
are  supplemented  by  a  great  number  of  histories, 
and  narratives,  journals,  pamphlets,  and  treatises, 
letters  and  replies,  which  make  the  life  of  that 
time  luminous  to  those  who  will  go  to  the  original 
sources. 

IV. 

What  then  was  the  life  in  the  Colonial  period 
of  our  history?  In  the  first  place,  it  was  a  life  in 
the  earlier  part  of  the  seventeenth  century.     The 


234       ^^-^  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

fathers  of  New  England  were  very  much  in 
advance  of  their  time,  and  yet  they  were  influ- 
Lifeinthe  enccd  by  the  spirit  of  their  times.  It 
Colonial  Age.  jg  ^^^  Q^^\y  unwisc  but  unjust  to  test 
their  opinions,  and  their  social  habits,  by  the  stan- 
dards of  our  time.  No  intelligent  student  of  their 
history  will  ignore  the  fact  that  the  world  has 
made  marvellous  progress  since  1620.  The  belief 
in  witchcraft  was,  I  think,  universal  in  Christen- 
dom in  that  age.  The  great  jurists  and  philoso- 
phers of  England  were  confident  that  there  were 
such  creatures  as  witches.  Sir  Matthew  Hale, 
and  Sir  Thomas  Browne,  and  Ralph  Cudworth, 
and  Blackstone,  and  even  John  Wesley  believed 
in  witchcraft.^  "  It  is  supposed,"  says  Professor 
Fisher,  "  that  prior  to  the  witchcraft  epidemic  in 
Massachusetts,  thirty  thousand  persons  had  been 
put  to  death  in  England  on  this  charge,  seventy- 
five  thousand  in  France,  and  a  hundred  thousand 
in  Germany." 

Cruel  punishments  were  inflicted  in  the  times 
of  Queen  Elizabeth.     She  sent  Mary  Queen  of 

Scots  to  the  block,  just  as  Charles  the 
Queen  Eliza-    Sccoud   scut    Sir    Henry    Vane  to  the 

block.  The  spirit  of  our  age  does 
not  tolerate  slavery,  but  slavery  was  common 
then.  Our  societies  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty 
to  Animals ;  Cruelty  to  Children  ;  the  laws  that 

1  Professor  Fisher's  History  of  the  Christian  Church,  479-483. 


FAMILY  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THE  PURITANS.        235 

protect  children  and  women  from  excessive  labor; 
that  prohibit  cock-fighting,  and  prize-fighting,  and, 
in  some  States,  prohibit  bull-fighting,  —  all  these 
are  the  outgrowths  of  the  last  years  of  the  nine- 
teenth century.  We  do  not  look  for  such  things 
in  the  times  of  Oliver  Cromwell. 

It  is  not  easy  for  us  to  do  justice  to  an  age  so 
different  from  our  own.  Life  was  more  simple  in 
those  days,  yet  in  many  ways  it  was  more  pic- 
turesque, more  courtly,  more  reverent.  The 
respect  that  was  paid  to  parents,  and  to 
the  aged,  and  to  those  in  official  posi-  seventeentii 
tions,  the  reverence  for  the  Bible,  and 
the  Church,  and  the  Lord  s-day,  the  interest  in 
Philosophy  and  Theology,  and  in  religious  ser- 
vices, —  these  were  very  unlike  the  tendencies  of 
our  time.  It  does  not  follow  that  the  life  of  that 
time  was  inferior  to  the  life  of  to-day.  Those 
people  were  evidently  sincere  in  the  expression  of 
their  opinions.  Their  manners  and  methods  of 
life  grew  out  of  their  experiences.  The  habits 
of  Queen  Elizabeth  were  very  different  from 
those  of  Queen  Victoria,  yet  it  may  be  that  Eliza- 
beth's place  in  history  is  higher  than  Victoria  will 
deserve.  Our  nineteenth  century  has  no  poets 
or  dramatists  to  be  compared  with  Milton  and 
Shakespeare.  Certainly,  we  have  no  reason  to 
look  down  upon  the  men  who  lived  in  the  times 
of  John  Hampden,  and  Eliot,  and  Pym,  and  Vane, 


236       THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

and  Milton,  and  Cromwell.  Mr.  Gladstone  has 
recently  said  :  "  I  do  not  think  we  are  stronger, 
but  weaker,  than  the  men  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
The  men  of  the  sixteenth  century  were  stronger 
in  brain  power  than  our  men."  ^ 


V. 

We  should  also  remember  that  the  fathers  of 
New  England  were  pioneers.  Those  who  make 
^    ^  ^        the  first  settlements  in  a    new  country 

Our  Fathers  ,  ... 

uvedina  caunot  Hvc  as  they  had  lived  in  their  old 
'  homes.  Many  of  the  criticisms  upon  the 
Puritans  are  very  inconsiderate.  They  have  been 
spoken  of  as  hard  and  narrow,  because  they  did 
not  have  days  of  public  festivity  and  amusement. 
But  the  settlers  at  Plymouth  had  to  build 
houses  to  shelter  their  families,  with  their  own 
hands,  in  the  depth  of  winter.  They  had  no 
Poverty  of  the  domcstlc  animals  except  dogs.  They 
Early  Pioneers.  }^^^  j^q  ploughs.     They  must  break  up 

the  land,  and  prepare  it  for  corn  with  hoes.  "  The 
first  beginning  of  any  cattle  in  the  land,"  says 
Bradford,  "  was  in  March,  1624,  when  three 
heifers  and  a  bull  were  landed."^  For  three  years 
and  more  the  Colony  had  been  without  milk  or 
butter  or  cheese  except  such  as  came  from  abroad. 

1  Review  of  Reviews,  April,  1892.     Interview  with  W.  T.  Stead. 

2  Bradford,  158. 


FAMILY  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THE  PURITANS.        23/ 


All  their  journeys  were  on  foot  or  in  boats.  There 
was  often  great  scarcity  of  food.  There  were  no 
preserved  meats,  no  vegetables,  and  no  bread 
stuffs  to  be  had.  Water  was  the  only  drink,  ex- 
cept beer  and  liquors.  There  was  a  time  when 
lobsters,  clams,  and  mussels  furnished  the  prin- 
cipal food  of  the  people.  After  the  return  of 
Governor  Winslow  from  England,  they  were  able 
to  allow  four  ounces  of  bread  a  day  to  each  in- 
habitant, and  this  was  given  out  each  day.  Two 
years  after  the  settlement  was  begun,  two  ships 
arrived  from  England,  bringing  a  large  number 
of  the  wives  and  children  of  the  earliest  settlers, 
who  had  been  left  behind  at  Leyden.  It  was  a 
joyful  reunion,  and  yet  the  new-comers  "  found 
their  old  friends  in  a  very  low  condition  ;  many 
were  ragged  in  aparell :  &  some  little  better  than 
half  naked."  "  The  best  dish  they  could  present 
their  friends  with  was  a  lobster,  or  a  piece  of  fish, 
without  bread,  or  anything  els  but  a  cupp  of  pure 
spring  water."  ^  "  The  long  continuance  of  this 
diate,"  says  Governor  Bradford,  "  and  their  labors 
abroad  had  somewhat  abated  Ye  freshness  of  their 
former  complexion."  The  fact  is,  the  new-comers 
hardly  recognized  their  own  kindred,  so  changed 
were  they  by  the  lack  of  nutritious  food,  and  by 
the  severity  of  their  labors.  Governor  Bradford 
compares  their  condition  to  that  of  Jacob  and  his 

*  Bradford,  145. 


238       THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

sons  in  Canaan,  in  the  time  of  famine.  For,  he 
says,  although  "  the  famine  was  great,  or  heavie 
in  the  land ;  yet  they  had  such  great  herds,  and 
store  of  cattle  of  sundrie  kinds,  which,  besides 
flesh,  must  needs  produce  other  food,  as  milke, 
butter  &  cheese,  &c.,  and  yet  it  was  counted  a  sore 
affliction  ;  theirs  hear  must  need  be  very  great, 
therefore,  who  not  only  wanted  the  staffe  of  bread, 
but  all  these  things,  and  had  no  Egipte  to  goe  too. 
But  God  fedd  them  out  of  ye  sea  for  ye  most  parte, 
so  wonderful  is  his  providence  over  his  in  all  ages  ; 
for  his  mercy  endureth  for  ever."-^ 

In  addition  to  these  troubles,  the  Colony  was 
in  debt  to  the  company  in  England,  which  had 
provided  the  vessel  that  brought  them  over,  and 
the  supplies  for  the  settlers.  For  many  years 
they  were  obliged  to  send  to  England,  whatever 
they  had  gained  from  their  trade  with  the  natives, 
towards  the  payment  of  their  debts.  Besides  this, 
they  had  among  them  a  number  of  persons  who 
were  not  honest  or  industrious  men.  Some  of 
those  who  were  sent  over  by  the  company  in 
England  were  so  bad  that  they  were  obliged  to 
send  them  back  at  large  expense.  All  through 
the  history  of  the  Plymouth  Colony  they  had  to 
carry  along  with  them  a  good  many  people  who 
had  no  sympathy  with  the  high  moral  standards 
of  the  Pilgrims. 

1  Bradford's  History,  146. 


FAMILY  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE   OF  THE  PURITANS.        239 

They  were  also  exposed  to  attacks  from  the 
savages  about  them.  They  treated  the  Indians 
with  great  kindness  and  consideration  ;  Danger  from 
but  they  were  never  free  from  the  danger  the  Indians, 
of  a  hostile  attack.  Their  village  was  protected 
by  a  line  of  palisades,  with  bastions  ;  and  the  gates 
were  locked  at  night  and  guarded.  They  built 
a  fort,  on  the  top  of  which  they  planted  six  cannon. 
In  times  of  special  danger,  a  watch  was  kept  up  at 
the  fort  day  and  night.^  As  the  years  went  by, 
their  hardships  were  less,  but  their  condition  was 
still  that  of  pioneers,  in  a  new  country,  with  the 
ocean  between  them  and  the  old  home. 


VI. 

The  larger  Colony  at  Massachusetts  Bay  was 
better  provided  for.  The  first  ships  that  came 
over  brought  with  the  passengers,  cows,  xne  Massachu- 
horses,  goats,  and  swine.^  They  had  setts  coiony. 
also  a  supply  of  provisions.  And  yet,  more  than 
a  quarter  of  those  who  came  to  Salem  died  during 
the  first  winter.  Two  hundred  of  Governor  Win- 
throp's  company  died  before  the  close  of  the 
autumn.  There  was  great  suffering  from  the  lack 
of  food,  in  the  winter  that  followed.  Shell-fish 
had  to  serve  for  meat,  and  ground-nuts  and  acorns 

1  Bradford,  113,  126. 

2  Governor  Winthrop's  History,  vol.  i.  34-44. 


240     THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

for  bread.  The  rude  cabins  which  the  people  were 
able  to  put  up  were  a  very  poor  protection  against 
the  cold  of  a  New  England  winter,  for  people, 
many  of  whom  had  lived  in  great  comfort  in  the 
old  country.  "  Oh  the  hunger  that  many  suffered," 
said  one  of  the  old  writers,  "  and  saw  no  hope  to 
be  supplied,  only  by  clams,  and  muscles,  and  fish."  ^ 
When  the  first  ship  arrived  from  England,  with 
provisions  for  the  Colony,  Governor  Winthrop 
was  giving  the  last  handfuls  of  meal  in  the  barrel 
to  a  poor  man. 

These  settlements  wxre  also  subject  to  alarms 
from  bands  of  hostile  Indians  who  were  prowling 
about.^  A  few  years  later,  they  had  occasion  to 
fortify  the  harbor  of  Boston,  and  arm  and  drill  the 
men  of  the  Colony,  because  they  had  reason  to 
expect  a  hostile  attack  from  the  king's  ships.  The 
colonies  in  Rhode  Island,  and  Connecticut,  and 
New  Hampshire  had  a  similar  record  of  privation 
Connecticut,  ^-ud  Suffering  during  the  first  years.  In 
SdNew^^'  the  course  of  time  the  industry  and  thrift 
Hampshire,  of  the  pcoplc  brought  them  such  com- 
forts and  such  prosperity  as  can  be  had  in  new 
settlements.  But  life  in  New  England  was  very 
simple  for  many  years.  In  1632,  Governor  Win- 
throp records  the  removal  of  the  wind-mill  from 
Newtown  to  Boston,  because  at  Newtown  it  would 
not  grind  but  with  a  westerly  wind.      The  whole 

1  Wonder  Working  Providence,  xxiv.       2  winthrop,  vol.  i.  59. 


FAMILY  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THE  PURITANS.        24 1 


Colony  seems  to  have  been  dependent   upon  a 
sino-le  wind-mill.-^ 

The  next  year,  a  water-mill  was  set  up  in  Dor- 
chester, and  another  in  Roxbury.  The  same  year 
a  "  Mercate  "  (Market)  was  authorized  to  be  kept 
on     Thursday,    in    Boston,    "it    being 

•'  .  ^    r*    The  Wind-mill 

lecture  day.  The  long  journeys  which  andwater- 
Governor  Winthrop  made  on  the  busi- 
ness of  the  Colony  were  on  foot,  or  in  boats,  for 
many  years.  When  he  visited  Plymouth,  Gover- 
nor Bradford,  —  "a  very  discreet  and  grave  man," 
—  with  Mr.  Brewster  the  Elder,  and  some  others 
came  forth  and  met  them  without  the  town,  and 
conducted  them  to  the  house  of  the  Governor, 
where  they  were  very  kindly  entertained,  and 
feasted  each  day  at  several  houses.  On  Wednes- 
day following,  "  the  Governor  and  his  company 
came  out  of  Plimouth  about  five  in  the  morning; 
the  Governor  of  Plimouth,  with  the  pastor  and 
Elder,  etc.,  accompanying  them  near  half  a  mile, 
out  of  town,  in  the  dark."  ^ 

In  the  second  generation,  as  almost  always  hap- 
pens in  a  new  country,  the  people  in  the  New 
England  colonies  were,  as  a  class,  of  ruder  man- 
ners, and  of  a  lower  grade  of  intelligence  than 
those  who  had  come  from  the  Mother  Country. 
There  was  some  improvement  in  the  third  gene- 
ration ;  but  all  through  the   first  century  of  our 

1  Winthrop,  vol.  i.  104,  138.  ^  Winthrop,  vol.  i.  no. 

16 


242      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

history,  the  people  had  the  characteristics  of  pio- 
neers. It  is  not  reasonable  for  the  critics  of  our 
time  to  expect  from  these  pioneers,  of  two  hun- 
dred and  sixty  years  ago,  the  broad  and  liberal 
views,  and  the  generous  culture  of  their  descend- 
ants of  the  seventh  generationo 


VII. 

Mr.  Longfellow's  poem,  entitled, "  The  Court- 
ship of  Miles  Standish,  "  gives  us  a  very   correct 
picture  of  the  social  and  family  life   of 

The  Courtship      ^  ^  j 

of  Miles  the  Pilgrims.     The  poet  was  interested 

in  the  tradition  on  which  the  poem  is 
founded  from  family  reasons. 

It  is  not  claimed  that  this  poem  is  in  all  respects 
accurate  in  its  statements.  It  is  a  work  of  art ; 
and  the  poet  has  grouped  about  the  central  story 
a  number  of  incidents  which  occurred  in  a  little 
different  connection.  John  Alden  was  not  quite 
the  youngest  of  those  who  came  in  the  May- 
flower, though  he  w^as  a  young  man  of  twenty- 
one.  Rose  Standish  was  not  the  first  of  those 
who  died  at  Plymouth.  The  milk-white  steer, 
which,  according  to  the  poem,  carried  the  bride 
on  its  back,  to  her  new  home,  after  the  simple 
marriage  ceremony,  w^as  doubtless  still  in  Old 
England  when  the  marriage  occurred,  two  years 
after  the  Mayflower  went  back.     But  after  all  the 


FAMILY  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THE  PURITANS,        243 

liberty  which  we  have  to  allow  to  the  poet,  it  re- 
mains true  that  this  poem  gives  a  correct  repre- 
sentation of  the  spirit  of  the  Pilgrims,  and  of  their 
way  of  life  in  1623.  The  journals  of  Mr.  Long- 
fellow show  that  he  was  a  diligent  student  of  the 
early  New  England  history  at  the  time  he  was 
writing  the  poem.^  The  characters  in  the  poem 
are  well-known  persons  in  the  history  of  the 
Colony.  Miles  Standish  was  such  a  man  as  the 
poet  has  described,  even  to  the  books  The  characters 
in  his  library,  a  catalogue  of  which  has  Authentic, 
been  preserved.^  John  Alden  is  a  typical  Pil- 
grim, with  a  warm  heart,  a  high  sense  of  honor, 
a  vigilant  conscience,  and  the  imagination  of  an 
enthusiastic  leader  of  men.  He  became  a  lead- 
ing man  in  the  Colony,  was  one  of  the  Assistants 
more  than  forty  years,  treasurer  of  the  Colony 
thirteen  years,  and  was  frequently  a  deputy  to  the 
General  Court.  Priscilla  Mullins,  —  "  the  beauti- 
ful Puritan  maiden,"  the  lover  of  music, — 

"  Singing  the  hundredth  Psalm,  the  grand  old  Puritan  anthem,"^ 
"  While  with  her  foot  on  the  treadle  she  guided  the  wheel  in  its 

motion." 
"Open  wide   on   her  lap,  lay  the   well-worn   psalm-book   of 

Ainsworth, 
Printed  in  Amsterdam,  the  words  and  the  music  together, 
Rough-hewn,  angular  notes,  like  stones  in  the  wall  of  a  church- 
yard." 

1  Life  of  H.  W.  Longfellow,  vol.  ii.  289-320. 

2  The  Pilgrim  Republic,  450-451. 


244     ^^-^  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND, 

Governor  Bradford,  also,  is  faithfully  represented 
in  the  poem.  So  is  Elder  Brewster,  though  he 
was  not  so  aged  a  man,  at  the  date  of  the  mar- 
riage, as  the  poet  would  have  him. 

The  tradition  on  which  the  action  of  the  poem 
is  founded,  is  certainly  very  old.  It  is  probably 
authentic.  It  is  very  likely  that  the  bashful  cap- 
tain —  "A  man  not  of  words,  but  of  actions,"  "  A 
maker  of  war,  and  not  a  maker  of  phrases"  —  was 
so  indiscreet  as  to  send  his  youthful  secretary  to 
ask  for  the  hand  of  the  young  woman,  who  was 

"...  alone  in  the  world ;  her  father  and  mother  and  brother 
Died  in  the  winter  together." 

Her  reply,  according  to  the  best  tradition,  was, 
"  Why  so  many  words  for  the  Captain,  and  no 
words  for  yourself,  John  ?  " 

The  charm  of  the  poem  for  us  is  in  its  picture 
of  the  life  at  Plymouth.  What  can  be  finer  than 
the  description  of  the  departure  of  the  May- 
flower ?  — 

"  Long  in  silence  they  watched  the  receding  sail  of  the  vessel, 
Much  endeared  to  them  all,  as  something  living  and  human ; 
Then,    as    if   filled    with  the  spirit,  and  wrapt  in  a  vision 

prophetic, 
Baring  his  hoary  head,  the  excellent  Elder  of  Plymouth 
Said,  '  Let  us  pray ! '   and  they  prayed,  and  thanked  the  Lord 

and  took  courage. 
Mournfully  sobbed  the  waves  at  the  base  of  the  rock,  and 

above  them 


FAMILY  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THE  PURITANS.        245 

Bowed  and  whispered  the  wheat  on  the  hill  of  death,    and 

their  kindred 
Seemed  to  awake  in  their  graves,  and  to  join  in  tlie  prayer  that 

they  uttered." 

Here  is  the  new  Pilgrim  home :  — 

'•'•  Meanwhile  Alden  at  home  had  built  him  a  new  habitation, 
Solid,  substantial,  of  timber  rough-hewn  from  the   firs  of  the 

forest. 
Wooden-barred  was  the  door,  and  the  roof  was   covered  with 

rushes ; 
Latticed  the  windows  were,  and  the  window-panes  were  of 

paper. 
Oiled  to  admit  the  light,  while  wind  and  rain  were  excluded. 
There  too  he  dug  a  well,  and  around  it  planted  an  orchard : 
Still  may  be  seen  to  this  day  some  trace  of  the  well  and  the 

orchard." 

"  Oft  when  his  labor  was  finished,  with  eager  feet  would  the 

dreamer 
Follow  the  pathway  that  ran  through  the  woods  to  the  house 

of  Priscilla, 
Led  by  illusions  romantic  and  subtile  deceptions  of  fancy. 
Pleasure   disguised  as   duty,   and  love  in   the  semblance  of 

friendship. 
Ever  of  her  he  thought,  when  he  fashioned  the  walls  of  his 

dwelling ; 
Ever  of  her  he  thought,  when  he  delved  in  the  soil  of  his 

garden  ; 
Ever  of  her  he  thought,  when  he  read  in  his  Bible  on  Sunday 
Praise  of  the   virtuous   woman,   as   she  is   described   in  the 

Proverbs." 

"This  was  the  wedding  morn  of  Priscilla  the  Puritan  maiden. 
Friends  were  assembled  together ;   the  Elaci-  and  Magistrate 
also 


24-6      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

Graced  the  scene  with  their  presence,  and  stood  Hke  the  Law 
and  the  Gospel, 

One  with  the  sanction  of  earth  and  one  with  the  blessing  of 
Heaven. 

Simple  and  brief  was  the  wedding,  as  that  of  Ruth  and  of  Boaz. 

Softly  the  youth  and  the  maiden  repeated  the  words  of  be- 
trothal, 

Taking  each  other  for  husband  and  wife  in  the  Magistrate's 
presence, 

After  the  Puritan  way,  and  the  laudable  custom  of  Holland. 

Fervently  then,  and  devoutly,  the  excellent  Elder  of  Plymouth 

Prayed  for  the  hearth  and  the  home,  that  were  founded  that 
day  in  affection, 

Speaking  of  life  and  of  death,  and  imploring  divine  benedic- 
tions." 

When  all  was  over  we  read :  — 

''  Onward  the  bridal  procession  now  moved  to  their  new  habita- 
tion, 

Happy  husband  and  wife,  and  friends  conversing  together. 

Pleasantly  murmured  the  brook,  as  they  crossed  the  ford  in  the 
forest, 

Pleased  with  the  image  that  passed,  hke  a  dream  of  love 
through  its  bosom, 

Tremulous,  floating  in  air,  o'er  the  depths  of  the  azure  abysses." 

"  Like  a  picture  it  seemed  of  the  primitive,  pastoral  ages. 
Fresh  with  the  youth  of  the  world,  and  recalling  Rebecca  and 

Isaac, 
Old  and  yet  ever  new,  and  simple  and  beautiful  always, 
Love  immortal  and  young  in  the  endless  succession  of  lovers. 
So  through  the  Plymouth  woods  passed  onward  the  bridal 

procession."  ^ 

1  The  Courtship  of  Miles  Standish,  1859. 


FAMILY  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THE  PURITANS.        247 


VIII. 

These  records  and  traditions  may  help  us  to 
understand  the  social  and  family  life  of  the  Puri- 
tans. We  pass  next  to  some  of  the  practical  methods 
by  zvhich  these  hardy  pioneers  directed  their  social 
and  family  life.  We  are  not  to  expect  them  to 
follow  the  conventional  rules  of  the  Old  ^,  ^   ., 

The  Puritans 

World.    They  were  men  of  ideas  and  of  m  Advance  of 

.       .  tlieir  Times. 

independent  principles.  They  had  found 
it  impracticable  to  develop  their  ideas  in  England. 
The  Stuarts,  and  those  who  belonged  to  their 
party,  had  crowded  these  vigorous  Protestants  — 
the  champions  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  — 
from  their  homes,  and  they  had  come  to  the  New 
World  to  develop  their  ideas  in  a  free  state  and  a 
free  Church.  They  were  men  far  in  advance  of 
their  times.  Longfellow  has  borrowed  the  strong 
expression  of  one  of  their  leaders,  when  he  says : 

*^God  had  sifted  three  kingdoms  to  find  the  wheat  for  this 
planting, 
Then  had  sifted  the  wheat,  as  the  hving  seed  of  a  nation." 

The  Puritans  sought  to  develop  the  individual. 
As  they  believed  that  each  man  was  the  special 
object  of  God's  love  and  care,  so  they  insisted 
that  each  child  should  be  educated  and  trained 
for  his  duties  in  this  life  and  beyoxid.  That  was 
the    reason   why  they  provided  schools   for   the 


248      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

children  of  the  people.  They  had  no  examples  of 
such  schools  in  England.  They  were  more  than 
two  centuries  in  advance  of  the  Mother  Country 
in  this  respect.  "  Until  quite  recently,"  says  an 
English  writer,  "  there  was  no  public  provision  for 
education  in  England,  and  even  now  it  is  only  the 
elementary  education  of  the  people  that  can  be 
said  to  be  regulated  by  law."^  James  Russell 
Lowell  speaks  of  the  founders  of  New  England 
as  the  inventors  of  Common  Schools,^  and  says 
that  these  schools  are  defences  against  "  monopoly 
in  Church  and  state."  Sir  William  Berkeley,  one 
of  the  early  Governors  of  Virginia,  wrote  to  Eng- 
land, "  I  thank  God  there  are  no  free  schools  or 
printing,  and  I  hope  we  shall  not  have  them 
these  hundred  years.  For  learning  hath  brought 
heresy,  and  disobedience,  and  sects  into  the  world, 
and  printing  hath  divulged  them,  and  libels  against 
the  best  government.  God  keep  us  from  both."  ^ 
The  Dutch  Republic,  however,  had  an  excellent 
The  Common  System  of  common  schools;  and  when 
SeDutch  ^^^^  Pilgrims  went  to  Leyden,  they  found 
Repubuc.  a  land  "  where  every  child  went  to  school, 
where  almost  every  inhabitant  could  read  and 
write."  *      Governor  Bradford  tells  us    that  they 

1  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  Art.  Education,  vol.  vii.  67S. 

2  Among  My  Books,  242.     This  statement,  however,  needs  to 
be  modified. 

^  Campbell's  Puritan,  vol.  i.  32. 

^  Motley's  United  Netherlands,  vol.  iv.  432. 


FAMILY  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE   OF  THE  PURITANS.        249 


were  at  first  unable  to  establish  a  school  at  Ply- 
mouth, "for  want  of  a  fit  person,  and  also  for  lack 
of  means  to  pay  a  teacher."  So  the  parents  taught 
their  own  children  to  read  in  the  first  years ;  but, 
as  soon  as  they  were  able,  they  set  up  common 
schools,  and  required  all  towns  which  had  fifty 
families  to  maintain  such  schools.  The  Annals 
of  the  Colony  are  full  of  references  to  schools  and 
schoolmasters.-^  There  was  a  school  in  Boston 
five  years  after  the  first  settlement,  of  ^ 

^  _  '  Common 

which  Philemon  Parment  was  the  schools  in 
teacher.  Daniel  Maude  was  his  succes- 
sor, and  for  his  maintenance  a  contribution  of 
fifty  pounds  was  made  by  the  leading  citizens. 
Governor  Winthrop  states  that  "  divers  free 
schools  were  erected,  as  at  Roxbury,  (for  the 
maintenance  whereof  every  inhabitant  bound 
some  house  or  land  for  a  yearly  allowance  forever) 
and  at  Boston,  where  they  made  an  order  to  allow 
forever  fifty  pounds  to  the  master,  and  an  house, 
and  thirty  pounds  to  an  usher,  who  should  also 
teach  to  read  and  write,  and  cipher;  and  Indians' 
children  were  to  be  taught  freely.  Other  towns 
did  the  like,  providing  maintenance  by  several 
means."  ^  In  1647,  ^  general  act  was  passed,  which 
required  every  town  of  fifty  families  or  more,  to 

1  Bradford's  History,  161-162.     Goodwin's  Pilgrim    Republic, 
494-497.     Plymouth  Records,  vol.  i.  37. 

2  Winthrop's  History,  vol.  ii.  264. 


250      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

appoint  one  to  teach  all  children  to  read  and 
write ;  and  every  town  of  one  hundred  families  to 
set  up  a  grammar  school,  the  masters  thereof 
being  able  to  prepare  students  for  the  University. 
Ezekiel  Cheever  was  the  earliest  schoolmaster  in 
New  Haven,  and  John  Higginson  the  first  in 
Hartford.  Every  New  England  Colony,  as  soon 
as  it  was  able,  provided  for  the  support  of  schools ; 
"  to  the  end  that  learning  may  not  be  buried  in 
the  eraves  of  our  forefathers  in  Church  and  com- 
monwealth."  The  movement  for  universal  educa- 
tion was  in  the  air  in  those  years.  Wherever  the 
Puritans  planted  themselves,  their  social  and 
family  life  was  the  life  of  readers  and  thinkers. 
The  common  school  has  gone  to  Virginia  now, 
and  far  beyond,  in  disregard  of  the  prayer  of  the 
old  Tory  Governor.  The  first  settlers  of  these 
earliest  American  colonies,  north  and  south, 
planted  the  seeds  from  which  their  descendants 
of  the  seventh  generation  are  reaping.  The 
schools  for  the  people  may  have  brought  some 
heresies,  and  some  disobedience,  but  they  have 
brought  light ;  they  have  brought  free  and  liberal 
thought ;  they  have  brought  liberty  to  the  slaves, 
and  help  to  the  poor,  and  light  to  the  ignorant. 
The  common  schools  made  possible  the  New 
England  town-meeting,  —  that  little  congress  of 
the  local  democracy  which  was  the  germ  of  the 
republic. 


FAMILY  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THE  PURITANS.        25 1 


IX. 

The  legislation  of  the  Puritans  also  influenced 
their  social  life.  Many  of  their  laws,  it  is  true, 
had  the  characteristics  of  the  seventeenth  century. 
But,  as  a  whole,  their  legislation  was  far  in  advance 
of  their  times.  It  is  common,  even  now,  for 
writers  of  limited  information  to  refer  to  the  so- 
called  Blue  Laws  of  Connecticut  as  specimens  of 
the  laws  of  the  Puritans.  It  is  said  that  the  laws 
contained  such  provisions  as  these  :  No  one  shall 
travel,  cook  victuals,  make  beds,  sweep  house,  cut 
hair,  or  shave  on  the  Sabbath  day.  No  woman 
shall  kiss  her  child  on  the  Sabbath  or  Fastino: 
day  :  no  one  shall  read  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,  keep  Christmas,  or  Saint  days,  make 
minced  pies,  dance,  play  cards,  or  play  on  any  in- 
strument of  music,  except  the    drum, 

The  Blue  Laws. 

trumpet,  and  jewsharp;    no  one  shall 


run  on  the  Sabbath  day,  or  walk  in  the  garden 
or  elsewhere  except  reverently,  to  and  from  meet- 
ino^:  no  food  or  lodQ:in2:  shall  be  afforded  to  a 
Quaker  or  other  Heretic  :  every  male  shall  have 
his  hair  cut  round  according  to  a  cap.-^ 

It  is  well  known  that  these  Blue  Laws  were  the 
invention  of  one  Samuel  Peters,  a  Tory,  who  had 

^  General  History  of  Connecticut,  by  Rev.  Samuel  Peters,  Lon- 
don, 1781,  65-82. 


252      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

been  driven  from  the  country  on  account  of  his 
disloyalty,  during  the  war  of  the  Revolution.  He 
published  in  London,  in  1781,  a  book  which  pro- 
fesses to  give  "A  History  of  Connecticut  from  its 
first  settlement."  The  code  of  laws  which  this 
book  contains  has  been  proved  to  be  a  fabrication. 
There  were  no  such  laws  in  Connecticut  or  in  any 
other  part  of  New  England ;  "  nor  is  there  any 
record  of  so  much  as  single  judgment  pronounced 
agreeably  to  the  tenor  of  these  provisions."  ^ 

Some  of  the  laws  which  were  enacted  in  New 

England  were  like  those  in  force  in  other  parts 

of  the  Christian    world    at   that  time. 

Laws  of  the 

seventeentii       There    wcrc    Sumptuary    laws    every- 
^^"^^*  where;    laws  to   punish    those    w^hose 

religious  opinions  were  different  from  those  of 
the  majority;  laws  designed  to  enforce  religious 
duties ;  meddlesome  laws,  interfering  with  small 
matters,  which  it  is  wiser  to  let  alone.  There  were 
cruel  laws  :  laws  which  imposed  the  death-penalty 
for  offences  which  we  have  learned  to  deal  with 
in  another  way. 

But  the  laws  of  New  England  were  more  mer- 
ciful than  those  of  New  York,  or  of  Virginia. 
They  were  much  more  merciful  than  the  laws  of 
England.  At  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  thirty-one  crimes  were  punished  with 

1  Blue  Laws,  True  and  False,  by  J.  Hammond  Trumbull,  Hart- 
ford, 1876,  30-32.     Palfrey,  vol.  ii.  30--37- 


FAMILY  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE   OF  THE  PURITANS.        253 

death  by  the  laws  of  England.  Connecticut  had 
only  twelve  capital  crimes  in  1642,  Massachusetts 
at  the  same  date  had  ten,  Plymouth  had  only 
eight.-^  In  England,  those  who  were  adjudged 
ojuilty  of  the  crime  of  witchcraft  were   ^ 

•=>  -^  Laws  of  Eng- 

to  be  put  to  death  without  benefit  of  landandof 
clergy.  The  writ  for  burning  a  heretic 
{de  hceretico  comburendo)  w^as  not  abolished  in 
England  till  late  in  the  reign  of  Charles  the 
Second.  As  late  as  the  time  of  James  the  Second, 
fourteen  hundred  Quakers  were  in  prison  at  one 
time  in  England,  in  accordance  with  the  laws 
then  in  force  in  that  country.^  By  the  laws  of 
Virginia,  Quakers,  or  other  Separatists  who  should 
join  in  relimous  worship  not  authorized 

.      -r,        1         ,  ,  .  .  LawsofEng- 

m  England  or  this  country,  were,  for  the  land  and  of 
third  offence,  to  be  banished  from  Vir-  ^^^^^' 
ginia.^  Quakers  were  to  be  put  to  death  if  they 
should  return  a  second  time.  No  minister  was 
allowed  to  hold  a  religious  service  unless  he  had 
been  ordained  by  a  bishop  in  England.  Any 
person  absenting  himself  from  divine  service  for 
a  month  was  to  be  fined ;  and  if  he  should  refuse 
to  pay  his  fine,  he  was  to  be  whipped,  "  on  the 
bare  back,  ten  lashes,  well  laid  on."  The  penalty 
for  blasphemy,  in  Maryland,  in  1649,  was  for  the 

1  Trumbull,   Blue  Laws,  59.     Palfrey,  vol.  ii.  27-,  note,  28-31. 
Body  of  Liberties,  81-90. 

■^  Encyclopeedia  Britannica,  Art.  Quakers. 
^  Jefferson's  Notes  on  Virginia,  167. 


54      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


first  offence  to  "  be  bored  through  the  tongue," 
and  for  the  third  offence  it  was  death .^ 

Some  of  these  seventeenth  century  laws  were 
enacted  in  the  New  England  colonies.  Some 
were  put  in  a  milder  form ;  many  were  repealed 
or  greatly  modified  in  a  few  years.  The  decided 
tendency  in  these  colonies  was  towards  softening 
the  penalties  or  repealing  the  laws.  The  reason 
was  that  the  legislators  that  enacted  all  laws  were 
elected  by  the  people  in  their  town-meetings,  and 
these  representatives  were  very  susceptible  to  pub- 
lic opinion.  The  law  which  provided  that  Quakers 
Laws  against  who  returned  to  the  Colony  after  they 
Quakers.  ^^^  j^g^j^  banished  should  be  put  to 
death,  was  very  unpopular  among  the  people.  It 
has  been  already  stated  that  it  was  passed  in  the 
House  of  Deputies  by  a  majority  of  one  vote.^ 
The  penalty  was  executed  upon  four  persons. 
But  the  pressure  of  public  opinion  against  the 
law  was  so  strong  that  after  three  or  four  years 
the  law  became  a  dead  letter,  and  before  many 
years  it  was  repealed. 

The  prosecutions  for  witchcraft,   in   1691  and 

1692,  were  brought  under  an  old  law  enacted  fifty 

years    before.      While    the    excitement 

Witchcraft.      ,  ,  ,        .  ,  .  n-      •,      i  •       • 

lasted,  and  withm  a  hmited  area,  juries 
were  found  that  would  convict  on  such  poor  testi- 

1  Blue  Laws,  True  and  False,  J.  Hammond  Trumbull,  Hartford, 
1876,  309-360. 

2  Mass.  Colonial  Records,  vol.  iv.  346. 


FAMILY  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THE  PURITANS.        2$$ 


mony  as  was  presented.  But  public  opinion  soon 
condemned  the  prosecutions,  and  within  a  few 
months  it  was  impossible  to  find  a  jury  that  would 
bring  in  a  verdict  of  guilty  of  Witchcraft.  The 
people  sent  such  remonstrances  to  the  General 
Court  that  the  prosecutions  were  stopped.  It  was 
the  enlightened  judgment  of  the  Puritan  Colonists 
that  put  a  stop  to  these  judicial  murders,  which 
were  continued  in  Europe  for  many  ^^ears  after- 
wards. 

The  Puritan  legislation  was  very  practical. 
James  Russell  Lowell  has  spoken  in  emphatic 
terms  of  the  practical  good  sense  of  our  fathers. 
They  had  been  the  champions  of  liberty  in  Eng- 
land ;  and  they  adopted,  very  early,  the  Body  of 
Liberties,  prepared  by  Mr.  Nathaniel  Ward  of 
Ipswich,  a  man  learned  in  the  law,  as  well  as  in 
divinity,  which  stated  in  clear  and  vigorous  terms 
the  rights  of  the  citizen  under  the  law.  "  No 
man's  life  shall  be  taken  away ;  no  man's  honor 
or  good  name  shall  be  stained;  no  practical 
man's  person  shall  be  arrested,  re-  legislation, 
strained,  banished,  or  anyways  punished;  no  man 
shall  be  deprived  of  his  wife  or  children;  no 
man's  goods  or  estate  shall  be  taken  away,  .  .  . 
unless  by  virtue  of  some  express  law  of  the  coun- 
try, established  by  the  General  Court  and  suffi- 
ciently published."  ^ 

^  Body  of  Liberties,  Art,  90-98. 


256      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND   AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

The  laws  tended  strongly  toward  democracy. 
They  tended  also  to  protect  the  family;  to 
secure  its  purity  and  its  permanence;  to  restrain 
vice  and  crime  ;  to  protect  the  poor  and  the  weak. 
The  laws  regulated  the  sale  of  intoxicating  drinks, 
perhaps  as  effectually  as  our  modern  laws  have 
done.  It  is  doubtful  whether  we  have  made  any 
real  progress  in  respect  to  that  class  of  legislation, 
since  the  time  of  Governor  Winthrop.  For  many 
years  the  General  Court  assumed  the  guardianship 
of  widows  and  orphans,  and  the  care  of  the  insane 
and  other  unfortunate  people.  There  were  also 
laws  to  protect  the  Indians  from  injustice,  as  well 
as  from  the  tendencies  to  vice  from  their  contact 
with  unprincipled  white  men.  These  laws  were 
designed  to  aid  the  missionary  work  among 
them. 

X. 

Life  in  New  England  was  less  democratic  in 
the  Colonial  period  than  it  is  in  our  time.  Many 
of  the  class  distinctions  of  old  England  were 
transferred  to  the  new  country.  Only  twelve  of 
those  who  came  in  the  Mayflower  had  the  title 
Mr.  prefixed  to  their  names.  The  others  were 
plain  John  Alden,  Thomas  Williams,  etc.  Only 
a  few  of  those  in  the  Massachusetts  Colony  had 
the  prefix  Mr.,  or  Mrs.  These  titles  were  given 
to  those  who  had  belonged  to  the  class  of  gentle- 


FAMILY  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE   OF  THE  PURITANS.        257 


men  in  England,  and  also  to   ministers,  and  phy- 
sicians, and  their  wives.     Goodman  and  goodwife 
were  the  appropriate  addresses   of  persons  who 
were  below  the  condition  of  gentility,  and  above 
that  of  servants.     Most   of   the  deputies    to  the 
General  Court  were  designated  by    their  names 
only,  unless  they  had  a  military  title.     A  gentle- 
man might  be  deprived  of  his  rank  for  a  disgrace- 
ful act.     It  was  ordered  by  the  Court,  in  1631,  that 
Josias  Plastowe  shall  be   fined    five  pounds  for 
stealing  corn  from  the  Indians,  and  that  hereafter 
he  shall  be  called  by  the  name  of  Josias,  and  not 
Mr.  as  formerly  he  used  to  be.^     These  distinc- 
tions in  social  rank  were  carefully  preserved  in 
the  early  catalogues  of  Harvard  College.     Those 
who   had   been  graduated  from  College  were  en- 
titled to   the  title    Sir,  until  they  had    Aristocratic 
received  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts,    i>istii»ctions. 
when   their  proper  title  was   Mr.     People  were 
sometimes    seated  in  the  meeting-house  accord- 
ing   to    their   social    rank.     Still,    the    tendency 
was  towards  a  free  and  hearty  life,  as  it  is  always 
in    a   new   country.      Conventional    distinctions 
faded  away,  although   there    were    traces    of   the 
aristocratic   traditions    they   had     brought    from 
England,    down    to   the    time    of  the    American 
Revolution. 

1  Winthrop's  History,  vol.  i,  74,  note. 
17 


258      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


XI. 

The  dress  of  the  people  during  the   Colonial 

period   was   generally   plain,  as  well   because   of 

their  limited  resources,   as  because    it    was    the 

policy  of  the  colonies  to   discourage  the  wasting 

of  their  resources  bv  habits  of  extra va- 

The  Dress  of  /  .  rr    -    y 

the  Early  gaucc.  And  yct  thosc  in  oincial  posi- 
coiomsts.  tions  were  frequently  passing  to  and 
from  England,  and  it  was  necessary  for  them  to 
maintain  the  style  and  manners  of  gentlemen  of 
their  rank  in  the  old  country.  Professional  men 
and  public  ofiBcers  were  expected  to  wear  a  dis- 
tinctive dress.  The  typical  Puritan,  as  his  appear- 
ance is  preserved  in  the  old  portraits,  and  in 
modern  statues,  looks  like  a  man  of  distinction. 
Clothes  counted  for  quite  as  much  in  the  seven- 
teenth century,  as  they  do  now.  The  Simple 
Cobbler  of  Agawam  complained  of  five  or  six 
extravagant  women  in  the  Colony,  who  inquire 
"what  dresse  the  Queen  is  in  this  week,"  and 
"what  is  the  very  newest  fashion  of  the  Court," 
and  who  "  e2fQ:e  to  be  in  it  in  all  haste,  whatever 
it  be."  "  I  honor  the  woman,"  he  says,  "  that  can 
honor  herself  with  her  attire,  but  for  a  woman  who 
lives  but  to  ape  the  newest  court  fashions  I  look 
at  her  as  the  very  gizzard  of  a  trifle,  —  the  product 


FAMILY  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE   OF  THE  PURITANS.        259 

of    a    quarter    of    a    cipher,  —  the    epitome    of 
nothing."  ^ 

The  General  Court  enacted  laws  at  various 
times  to  limit  extravagance  in  dress.  The  fact 
that  such  laws  were  needed  shows  that  human  na- 
ture in  the  times  of  the  Puritans  was  very  much 
the  same  that  it  is  now.  Their  young  people  had 
a  love  for  beautiful  things ;  and  they  sought  to 
adorn  themselves,  even  beyond  their  means.  The 
younger  generation  were  not  inconoclasts.  Some 
of  them  were  disposed  to  break  away  from  the 
customs  of  the  pioneers.  In  1634,  it  was  enacted 
that  "  noe  person,  either  man  or  woman,  shall 
hereafter  make  or  buy  any  apparel  that  hath  lace 
in  it,  or  silver  and  gold."  It  was  afterward 
ordered  that  no  one  whose  estate  is  less  than  two 
hundred  pounds  shall  wear  gold  or  silver  lace,  or 
gold  or  silver  buttons.  Still  later,  it  was  enacted 
that  no  one  shall  wear  embroidered  caps,  gold 
and  silver  girdles,  immoderate  great  sleeves,  or 
slashed  apparel.  ^  We  read  in  the  Records  of  the 
Plymouth  Colony  of  a  man  who  created  a  sensa- 
tion by  appearing  in  the  streets  of  Plymouth  in 
long  red-silk  stockings.^  In  the  inventory  of  the 
estate  of  plain  Elder  Brewster,  we  find  "  one  blue 
cloth  coat,"  one  "  violet  color  cloth  coat,"  "  one 

1  The  Simple  Cobbler  of  Agawam,  25-28,  1647. 

2  Colonial  Records,  vol.  i.  273;  vol.  v.  59.     Laws,  1634-1651. 
^  Records,  vol.  i.  93. 


260      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

green  waistcoat."  In  "  New  England's  First 
Fruits  "  it  is  said  :  "  Linnen  fustian  we  are  mak- 
ing already;  sheep  are  coming  on  for  woolen 
cloth ;  in  the  meantime  we  may  be  supplied  by 
way  of  trade  from  other  parts  ;  cordovan  deer, 
seal,  and  moose  skins  are  to  be  had  plentifully, 
which  will  help  this  way,  especially  for  servants' 
clothing."-^  Evidently  these  pioneers  were  thrifty 
people,  who  respected  themselves,  and  dressed 
as  well  as  they  were  able,  though  they  avoided 
with  prudent  care  habits  that  were  beyond  their 
incomes. 

XII. 

The  inventory  of  the  estate  of  Elder  Brewster 
shows  that  his  furniture  was  appraised  at  about 
Domestic  onc  hundred  pounds.     The  inventory 

Furniture.  q£  ^j^^  household  goods  of  Govcrnor 
Winthrop  sums  up  the  value  at  one  hundred  and 
three  pounds.  This  included  several  feather  beds 
and  bolsters  worth  two  pounds  apiece ;  a  down 
bed,  pillows  and  bolsters  worth  five  pounds ;  a 
large  number  of  pewter  dishes  and  plates,  tin 
plates,  brass  and  copper  kettles,  brass  candlesticks, 
brass  and  iron  andirons,  some  old  armor,  fire-arms, 
several  small  carpets,  cushions,  cloaks,  cloth-of- 
gold  scarf,  table-cloths,  napkins,  a  large  number 

^  New  England's  First  Fruits,  ch.  xxiv. 


FAMILY  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE   OF  THE  PURITANS.        26 1 


of  chairs,  tables,  cabinets,  chests,  two  suits  of 
clothes  worth  six  pounds,  six  pairs  of  spectacles, 
and  many  other  things. 

There  is  preserved  in  the  Records  of  the 
Colony  of  Massachusetts,^  an  inventory  of  the 
household  goods  of  Mrs.  Martha  Coytmore,  who 
afterwards  became  the  fourth  wife  of  Governor 
Winthrop.  The  whole  value  of  the  estate  of  her 
first  husband  seems  to  have  been  about  thirteen 
hundred  pounds.  One  hundred  and  twenty- 
seven  pounds  of  this  was  represented  by  the 
household  furniture.  The  items  are  much  the 
same  as  those  in  the  inventory  of  the  furniture 
of  the  Governor.  Some  articles,  however,  were 
more  expensive.  There  was  a  cypress  chest  worth 
two  pounds  ten  shillings,  diaper  table-cloths,  with 
napkins,  worth  several  pounds,  a  silk  red  and 
green  quilt,  striped  curtains,  and  some  silver 
plate  worth   fifteen  pounds. 

These  are  specimens  of  the  inventories  of  the 
estates  of  persons  in  the  best  condition  in  life, 
in  Boston,  twenty  years  after  the  town  was 
settled.  The  furniture  in  the  largest  number  of 
houses  was  much  more  primitive  and  of  less 
cost. 

1  Records,  vol.  ii.  234-236. 


262      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


XIII. 

The  amusements  of  these  plain  people  dwelling 
in  the  wilderness  w^ere  few  and  simple.  And  yet 
they  w^ere  not  as  few  as  some  writers  would  lead 
us  to  suppose.  It  is  true  that  games  of  chance 
Amusements  of  wcrc  prohibited  by  kw.  No  ouc  was 
the  People.  permitted  to  possess  cards,  dice,  or 
other  instrument  of  gaming.  Dancing  was  also 
prohibited.^  But  it  is  possible  for  the  right  sort 
of  people  to  lead  a  pleasant  social  life  without 
gaming  or  dancing. 

The  Puritans  enjoyed  their  religion.  They  de- 
lighted in  prayer,  and  in  communion  with  God. 
They  were  profoundly  interested  in  religious  truth. 
Religious  services  were  very  attractive  to  them. 
They  were  intellectual  people.  The  religious 
spirit  has  been  found  to  agree  very  well  with 
the  intellectual  spirit.  The  independent  thinkers 
of  New  England,  as  a  rule,  had  a  Puritan 
ancestry. 

Our  fathers  loved  their  new  country,  as  pio- 
neers generally  do.  They  believed  it  was  better 
than  any  other.  They  were  free  to  work  out 
their  own  ideas  in  this  new  world.  They  were 
readers     and     thinkers.        They    debated    great 

1  Records  of  Mass.,  vol.  i.  84  and  233.  Records  of  Connecti- 
cut, vol.  i.  289,  527. 


FAMILY  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THE  PURITANS.        263 

questions  under  the  shadows  of  the  primitive 
forests.  They  did  not  feel  the  need  of  the 
pleasures  which  people  of  less  intellect  and  less 
faith  seem  to  require. 

There  is  abundant  evidence  that  there  was  a 
genuine,  hearty,  social  life  in  these  colonies. 
Travellers  of  that  period,  who  came  to  New 
England,  do  not  speak  of  the  life  they  found 
here  as  a  gloomy  life.  The  people  were  inter- 
ested in  each  other.  They  had  their  own  simple 
rustic  amusements  such  as  those  to  which  they 
had  been  accustomed  in  EnHand. 

Take  as  an  example  the  first  Harvest  Festival 
at  Plymouth.  The  Pilgrims  had  gathered  their 
first  harvest,  after  the  year  of  severe  labor  and 
privation,  while  they  were  building  their  houses, 
and  breaking  up  the  ground,  and  caring  for 
their  crops.  The  harvest  was  bountiful,  and 
they  had  at  last  a  right  to  give  themselves  up  to 
recreation.  We  read,  in  Mourt's  Relation : 
"  Our  harvest  being  gotten  in,  our  Governor 
sent  foure  men  on  fowling,  that  we  might  after 
a  more  special  manner  rejoice  together,  after  we 
had  gathered  the  fruit  of  our  labors.  They 
foure  in  one  day  killed  as  much  fowle,  as,  with 
a  little  help  beside,  served  the  Com-  Harvest  Festival 
pany  almost  a  weeke,  at  which  time,  at  Plymouth, 
amongst  other  Recreations,  w^e  exercised  our 
Arms,  many  of  the  Indians  coming  amongst  us, 


264      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

and  amongst  the  rest,  their  greatest  King, 
Massasoyt,  with  some  ninety  men,  whome  for 
three  dayes  we  entertained  and  feasted,  and  they 
went  out  and  killed  fine  Deere,  which  they 
brought  to  the  Plantation,  and  bestowed  on 
our  Governor,  and  vpon  the  Captaine,  and 
others."^ 

This  was  not  a  religious  festival.  There  is 
no  mention  of  any  religious  services.  The  week 
seems  to  have  been  given  up  to  sports,  and  a 
succession  of  festivals,  as  well  as  to  the  entertain- 
ment of  their  dusky  neighbors.  In  these  ways^ 
these  vigorous  men  enjoyed  themselves,  making 
the    best    use    of    their    limited    opportunities. 

In  Massachusetts,  there  was  a  larger  popu- 
lation, and  a  greater  variety  of  occasions  of 
interest.  The  house  of  Governor  Winthrop  was 
seldom  without  its  guests.  There  were  inter- 
esting people  coming  from  abroad,  whose  pre- 
sence added  interest  to  the  home-life.  The 
Commencement  week  at  the  new  college  was 
always  interesting.  We  read  of  a  great  training 
on  Boston  Common,  which  brought  together 
the  people  from  the  various  settlements.  Many 
gentlemen  and  gentlewomen  dined  in  tents  on 
the  Common.  Judge  Sewell,  in  his  Diary,  refers 
very  often  to  the  dinner  parties  which  he  at- 
tended.      He   sometimes  gives  us  the  names  of 

1  Mourt's  Relation,  133. 


FAMILY  AND   SOCIAL  LIFE   OF  THE  PURITANS.        26 S 

the  guests,  and  tells  us  something  of  the  bill  of 
fare.  The  picture  of  a  New  England  Holiday, 
in  the  "  Scarlet  Letter,"  with  its  mingled  light  and 
shade,  gives  a  very  fair  impression  of  life  in  those 
days.  Hawthorne  says,  very  truly,  that  the  gen- 
eration next  to  the  early  emigrants  —  who  had 
never  mingled  in  the  sports  of  Old  England  — 
wore  the   darkest  shade  of  Puritanism.^ 

Human  nature  in  the  colonies  was  very  much 
like  human  nature  in  the  rest  of  the  world.  The 
amusements  of  the  young  people  were  not 
always  such  as  their  fathers  and  mothers  ap- 
proved. There  are  numerous  records  of  "  Mixt 
dancings,  unlawful  gamings,  extravagence  in  dress, 
light  behavior,"  and  such  like  offences.  These 
things  do  not  appear  to  have  been  confined  to 
any  one  period  in  our  history.  They  became 
more  frequent  as  the  colonies  became  richer  and 
more  populous.  The  family  discipline  was  careful 
and  faithful,  but  the  habits  and  characters  of  the 
children  did  not  always  develop  according  to  the 
Puritan  model. 

XIV. 

We  may  draw  another  class  of  illustrations  of 
the  social  life  of  the  Puritans  from  their  inter- 
course   with    the    French,  whose   settlements    in 

1  Hawthorne's  Scarlet  Letter,  270-290.  In  some  of  his  other 
books,  Mr.  Hawthorne  fails  to  do  justice  to  the  Puritans. 


266      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

the    north  were  older  than    those    of   the    Puri- 
tans.    The  French  officials  were  zeal- 
intercourse  ■       , 
with  the        ous  Roman  Catholics,  and  their  habits 

were    very   different    from     those     of 
the   Puritans. 

In  1643,  La  Tour  arrived  in  Boston  harbor 
with  his  ship,  and  a  hundred  and  forty  people, 
among  them  two  Friars,  and  two  women  who 
were  to  wait  upon  the  wife  of  La  Tour.  They 
were  courteously  received  by  Governor  Winthrop, 
who  escorted  La  Tour  to  his  lodgings  on  shore, 
"  with  a  sufficient  guard."  While  the  Frenchmen 
were  in  the  town  the  training  day  came  on,  and 
La  Tour  witnessed  with  pleasure  the  evolutions 
of  the  citizen-soldiers.  In  the  afternoon,  the 
French  soldiers  were  landed,  with  their  arms, 
and  they  were  permitted  to  exercise,  "  The 
Governor  and  others  of  the  Magistrates  coming 
into  the  field."  The  Puritan  soldiers  escorted 
the  Frenchmen  to  the  landing-place.  "  Our 
Governor  and  others  in  the  town,"  we  are  told, 
"entertained  La  Tour  and  his  gentlemen  with 
much  courtesy,  both  in  their  houses  and  at 
table.  La  Tour  came  duly  to  our  church 
meetings,  and  always  accompanied  the  Gov- 
ernor to  and  from  thence,  who  all  the  time 
of  his  abode  here  was  attended  with  a  good 
guard  of  halberts  and  musketeers."  There 
were    animated  discussions    among    the    people 


FAMILY  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THE  PURITANS.        26/ 

in  regard  to  the  propriety  of  receiving  these 
"idolatrous  Papists,"  as  some  called  them,  with 
so  much  honor.  But  the  majority  approved 
the  wise  and  courteous  course  of  the  Governor. 
There  was  a  good  deal  of  social  intercourse 
between  the  people  and  the  French.  We  read : 
"  Of  the  two  Friars  which  came  in  this  ship, 
the  one  was  a  very  learned  acute  man.  Divers 
of  our  Elders,  who  had  conference  with  him, 
reported  so  of  him.  They  came  not  into  the 
town,  lest  they  should  give  offence,  but  once, 
being  brought  by  some  to  see  Mr.  Cotton  and 
confer  with  him,  and  when  they  came  to  depart, 
the  chief  came  to  take  leave  of  the  Governor, 
and  the  two  Elders  of  Boston,  and  showed  him- 
self very  thankful  for  the  courtesy  they  found 
among  us."^  This  picture  of  the  learned  Friar, 
calling  on  John  Cotton,  to  "confer  with  him," 
being  brought  by  some  of  the  Puritans,  is  one 
of  the  evidences  that  there  was  a  place  for 
courtesy  toward  those  of  another  faith,  among 
those  stanch  Protestants. 

Three  years  later,  another  company  of  French- 
men came  to  Boston.  They  arrived  on  the 
Lord's-day.  "  Major  Gibbons  sent  two  of  his 
chief  officers  to  meet  them  at  the  water  side, 
who  conducted  them  to  their  lodgings,  sine 
strepitu.       The    public    worship    being    ended, 

1  Winthrop's  History,  vol.  ii.  128-138,  153. 


268      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


the  Governor  repaired  home,  and  sent  Major 
Gibbons  with  a  guard  of  musketeers  to  attend 
them  to  the  Governor's  house,  who,  meeting 
them  without  his  door,  carried  them  into  his 
house,  where  they  wxre  entertained  with  wine 
and  sweetmeats,  and  after  a  while,  he  accom- 
panied them  to  their  lodgings.  The  Governor 
explained  to  them  the  Puritan  way  of  observing 
the  Lord's-day,  '  that  all  men  either  come  to  our 
public  meetings,  or  keep  themselves  quiet  in 
their  houses.'  The  French  Catholics  complied 
with  the  customs  of  the  Colony,  for  '  they  con- 
tinued private  all  that  day  until  sunset,  and  made 
use  of  such  books,  Latin  and  French,  as  the  Gover- 
nor had,  and  the  liberty  of  a  private  walk  in  his 
garden,  and  so  gave  no  offence.'  When  they 
had  finished  their  business,  they  were  attended  to 
their  boat  by  the  Governor,  and  the  Commis- 
sioners of  the  Colony.  When  they  sailed  for 
home,  they  were  saluted  with  five  guns  from 
Boston,  three  from  Charlestown,  and  five  from 
Castle  Island.  They  returned  the  salute,  and 
went  of  their  voyage."  ^ 

A  still  more  interesting  incident  occurred  four 
years  later.  Father  Gabriel  Druillette,  a  Jesuit 
missionary  among  the  Abenaquis,  in  what  is  now 
the  State  of  Maine,  was  sent  by  the  Governor 
of  Canada,  D'Ailleboust,  as  a  diplomatic  agent  to 

1  Winthrop,  vol.  ii.  334-336. 


FAMILY  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE   OF  THE  PURITANS.        269 

Massachusetts,  and  to  Plymouth.  His  purpose 
was  to  engage  the  Colonies  in  alliance  with  the 
French,    aoainst    the    Iroquois.       The 

.  .^.  ^  Visit  of  Father 

Jesuit   missionary  hoped    by  such   an  Druiuette, 
alliance    to  secure   protection  for  the 
Christian   Indians,  against  their  savage  enemies. 
He  has  left  a  journal  of  his  visit,  in  F'rench,  which 
was  published  some  forty  years  ago.^ 

Druillette  reached  Boston  in  December,  1650. 
He  was  known  as  a  zealous  Jesuit  mission- 
ary. He  was  received  with  great  courtesy  and 
respect.  He  was  invited  to  the  house  of  General 
Gibbons,  who  charged  him  to  make  no  other  house 
his  home,  while  he  remained  there.  The  General 
gave  to  his  guest  a  key  to  an  apartment  in  his 
house,  where  he  might  be  free  to  pray,  and  to  go 
through  the  services  of  his  religion.  It  has  been 
suggested  that  the  first  Mass  in  Boston  may  have 
been  solemnized  in  that  room.  General  Gibbons 
presented  his  guest  to  Governor  Dudley,  who 
examined  his  credentials,  and  invited  him  to  dine 
at  his  house.  From  Boston,  Father  Druillette 
went  to  Plymouth,  where  he  was  courteously 
received  by  Governor  Bradford,  who  invited  him 
to  dine  at  his  house  the  next  day.     As  the  next 

1  Narre  du  Voyaoje  faict  pour  la  Mission  des  Abnaquiois,  et  des 
Connaissances  tirez,  de  la  Nouvelle  Angleterre  et  des  dispositions 
des  Magistrats  de  cette  Republique  pour  le  secours  contre  les 
Iroquois,  es  annees  1650  et  1651.  Par  le  R.  Pere  Gabriel 
Druillette,  de  la  Compagnie  de  Jesus.    Quebec. 


270      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


day  was  Friday,  the  Pilgrim  Governor  provided 
fish  for  dinner,  in  recognition  of  the  religious 
customs  of  his  Jesuit  guest.  The  Priest  found 
favor  among  the  people  of  Plymouth,  although 
the  Magistrates  did  not  embarrass  themselves  by 
entering  into  the  alliance  which  he  proposed. 
On  the  24th  of  December,  the  good  missionary 
started  on  his  return  to  Boston  by  land.  On  his 
way  back,  he  called  at  Roxbury  on  John  Eliot,  the 
Puritan  missionary  among  the  Indians.  It  must 
have  been  about  the  time  of  Christmas  day.  He 
writes  in  his  journal  that  Eliot  invited  him  to 
lodge  with  him,  as  the  night  had  overtaken  him. 
These  two  missionaries  —  the  Jesuit,  and  the 
Puritan  —  had  much  discourse  concerning  their 
work  among  the  Indians.  "  Here  is  a  scene,"  says 
Dr.  Ellis,  "that  might  well  engage  the  pencil  of 
an  artist.  These  two  men,  .  .  .  separated  as  the 
poles  in  their  religious  convictions,  principles  and 
methods,  are  seen  in  simple,  human,  loving  con- 
verse,   as  kind    host,    and  responsive 

John  Eliot  and  '  ,  ,  -  .     . 

thecathouc  stranger  guest.  The  humble  sittmg 
and  working  room  of  the  Apostle  Eliot, 
in  his  modest  cottage,  has  the  essentials  of  com- 
fort,  and  there  is  a  guest  chamber."  The  Priest 
writes  in  his  journal  that  Eliot  treated  him  with 
respect  and  affection,  and  invited  him  to  pass  the 
winter  with  him.  "  Perhaps  their  conversation 
was  in  Latin,"  says  Dr.  Ellis,  "  though  Eliot  was 


FAMILY  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE   OF  THE  PURITANS        2/1 

an  accomplished  scholar,  and  might  have  the 
mastery  of  the  French.  The  morning  and  even- 
ing devotions  of  the  Puritan  household,  with  grace 
and  blessing  each  meal  must  have  kept  their 
wonted  course,  while  the  faithful  Priest  had  his 
oratory,  —  his  orisons,  —  and  his  matin  Mass 
before  breaking  his  fast."  ^ 

So  nearly  do  good  people  of  different  creeds 
approach  each  other,  who  are  devoted  to  the 
service  of  the  one  Lord,  and  to  the  salvation  of 
their  fellow-men. 

XV. 

Last  of  all,  we  can  estimate  the  social  and 
family  life  of  the  Puritans,  from  its  results,  in  the 
types  of  character  which  we  find  in  their  descend- 
ants. We  are  living  among  people  of  the  seventh 
and  eighth  generation  from  the  founders  of  New 
England.  That  is  a  long  period  through  which 
to  transmit  distinctive  traits.  Mr.  Galton,  in  his 
work  on  Hereditary  Genius,  tells  us  that  "  the 
ablest  race  of  whom  history  bears  record  is  un- 
questionably the  Ancient  Greeks."^  But  the 
Greek  type,  which  was  preserved  for  a  few  centu- 
ries, became  gradually  feebler,  and  was  long  ago 
lost.     The  Patricians  at  Rome  were  as  distinctly 

1  Palfrey,  vol.  ii.  305-308.  The  Puritan  Age  and  Rule,  by  George 
E.  Ellis,  366-374. 

2  Hereditary  Genius,  329. 


2/2      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

marked  in  their  time,  but  Gibbon  tells  us  that  at 
the  time  of  the  Republic  most  of  the  Patrician 
families  had  failed,  and  that  the  type  was  lost. 
Mr.  Benjamin  Kidd  states  that  "only  five  out  of 
over  five  hundred  of  the  oldest  aristocratic  families 
in  England,  at  the  present  time,  can  trace  direct 
descent  through  the  male  line,  to  the  fifteenth 
century."  ^  "  Despite  the  immeasurable  safeguards 
with  which  they  have  been  able  to  surround  them- 
selves, such  classes  seem  to  be  quite  unable  to 
keep  up  the  stock  for  more  than  a  limited  number 
of  generations.  They  are  continually  dying  out 
at  the  top,  and  being  recruited  from  below."  A 
similar  state  of  things  has  been  found  to  exist  in 
France  among  the  noble  families  of  that  country. 
The  Puritan  type  in  this  country  has  met  a 
number  of  other  vigorous  types,  each  of  which  has 
moulded  a  large  number  of  our  people.  Beside 
the  Cavaliers  of  Virginia,  who  made  the  Church 
_  ^  .^         of  Eno-land  the  established  Church  in 

The  Puntan  ^ 

Type  in  the  that  Colouy,  there  has  been  the  Scotch, 
and  the  Scotch-Irish  type,  out  of  which 
has  come  the  great  Presbyterian  Body.  The 
French  Huguenots  have  been  very  numerous. 
So  have  the  Dutch,  and  the  Germans.  There 
has  been  a  mingling  of  blood.  Each  type  has 
exerted  an  influence  upon  the  others,  and  there 
is   a   tendency   to    melt   down    these    distinctive 

1  Social  Evolution,  277. 


FAMILY  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THE  PURITANS.        2/3 

types  in  the  comprehensive  national  spirit  and 
character. 

But  for  all  that,  the  New  England  type  of  mind, 
after  two  hundred  and  seventy  years,  is  still  as 
distinct  in  the  great  stream  of  our  American  life, 
as  the  Gulf  Stream  in  the  Atlantic.  A  large 
fraction  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  have 
sprung  from  those  who  settled  the  colonies  of 
New  England.  They  are  to  be  found  in  every 
State,  and  in  almost  every  city  and  town.  The 
men  and  women  of  Puritan  blood,  wherever  we 
find  them,  are  apt  to  be  people  of  vigorous  intel- 
lects, of  thrifty  habits,  of  inventive  genius,  and  of 
strong  moral  character.  They  stand  for  liberty 
in  the  Church,  and  in  the  state.  The  leaders  of 
liberal  thought  have  been  descendants  of  the 
Puritans.  A  large  proportion  of  the  great  con- 
servative leaders  have  also  been  of  Puritan  lineage. 
I  find  these  men  in  the  South,  and  in  the  extreme 
West,  as  well  as  in  the  East.  They  are  preaching 
in  California  and  in  Oregon.  They  are  Senators 
and  Representatives  from  Colorado,  and  from 
Michigan:  from  Washington,  and  from  Ohio; 
from  Wisconsin  and  from  Illinois.  President 
John  Adams  and  President  John  Quincy  Adams, 
and  the  poet  Longfellow  were  among  the  descen- 
dants of  John  Alden  and  of  Priscilla  Mullins. 
Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  was  of  the  eighth  genera- 
tion of  Puritan  ministers.     Nathaniel  Hawthorne 

i8 


274       ^^^  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

was  a  descendant  of  William  Hawthorne,  w^ho 
came  to  America  with  Governor  Winthrop,  and 
who  settled  in  Dorchester,  in  1630.  James  Russell 
Lowell  was  a  descendant  from  Percival  Lowell, 
a  prosperous  merchant,  who  settled  in  Newbury, 
in  1639,  and  of  the  long  line  of  his  successors,  — 
merchants  and  lawyers  and  ministers. 

I  have  before  me,  as  I  write,  a  list  of  a  hundred 
and  twenty-five  men  who  have  died  within  the 
last  three  years,  and  who  were  members  of  the 
New  England  Historic  Genealogical  Society  of 
Boston.  They  were  not  selected  men,  excepting 
that  they  were  especially  interested  in  the  history 
of  New  England  families.  The  majority  of  them 
were  residents  of  Massachusetts,  but  a  large 
number  lived  in  other  parts  of  New  England,  and 
in  other  sections  of  the  country,  and  some  in 
foreign  lands.  There  are  among  them  descend- 
ants of  the  French  Huguenots,  of  the  Scotch, 
the  Dutch,  and  the  English.  It  has  been  found, 
from  an  examination  of  this  list  of  a  hundred  and 
twenty-five  members  of  this  Society,  who  have  died 
in  1893,  1894,  and  1895,  ^^^^  about  two-thirds  of 
them  were  able  to  trace  their  descent  from  the  Pil- 
grims or  the  Puritans  of  New  England.  The  list 
includes  such  names  as  William  Frederick  Poole, 
the  Librarian  of  Chicago,  Joseph  H.  Stickney,  a 
merchant  of  Baltimore,  Thomas  E.  Proctor  and 
Benjamin  F.  Nourse   of  Boston,  both  successful 


FAMILY  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE   OF  THE  PURITANS-         2/5 

business  men,  and  both  descended  from  persons 
who  were  put  to  death  in  Salem  at  the  time  of  the 
witchcraft  delusion,  Ex-Governor  Oliver  Ames, 
and  Frederick  L.  Ames,  and  Waldo  Higginson, 
Moses  Kimball,  Gyles  Merrill  of  Haverhill, 
Warren  Ladd  of  Providence,  Judge  Charles  C. 
Baldwin  of  Cleveland,  Elisha  C.  Leonard  of  New 
Bedford,  James  R.  Newhall  of  Lynn,  Dr.  Henry 
Delevan  Paine  of  Albany,  Daniel  Clapp,  Peter 
Butler,  Peter  Thacher,  James  W.  Austin,  Francis 
G.  Pratt,  and  many  others  of  Boston.  These  are 
representative  men,  specimens  of  the  thousands 
of  men  in  active  life  who  are  of  Puritan  descent, 
whom  one  may  meet  from  day  to  day  in  business 
or  in  professional  life. 

Phillips  Brooks  was  one  of  these  representative 
men,  a  descendant  on  his  father's  side  from 
Thomas  Brooks,  and  on  his  mother's  side  from 
George  Phillips,  the  first  minister  of  Watertown. 
Three  generations  ago  one  of  the  descendants  of 
John  Cotton  became  the  wife  of  the  great  grand- 
father of  Phillips  Brooks.  So  that  he  came  from 
at  least  three  lines  of  Puritan  ancestors,  —  Cotton, 
Phillips,  and  Brooks.  Fie  showed  what  a  well 
developed  Puritan  of  the  seventh  generation  may 
become  under  favorable  circumstances.  Francis 
Parkman,  LL.D.,  the  eminent  histomn  of  the 
French  in  America,  who  died  in  1893,  traced  his 
family  line  to  Elias  Parkman,  through  a  long  sue- 


2/6       THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

cession  of  ministers  and  men  of  letters.  Judge 
Peleg  Emery  Aldrich,  who  has  only  recently 
passed  away,  was  only  one  of  the  many  eminent 
descendants  of  George  Aldrich  of  early  Puritan 
times.  Henry  Oscar  Houghton,  the  eminent 
publisher,  was  of  the  seventh  generation  from 
John  Houghton.  Leverett  Saltonstall  was  de- 
scended from  Sir  Richard  Saltonstall,  the  leader 
in  the  settlement  of  Watertown.  He  was  the  sixth 
in  lineal  descent  to  graduate  from  Harvard  Col- 
lege. Dr.  Andrew  P.  Peabody  was  a  descendant 
of  the  seventh  generation  from  Lieut.  Francis 
Peabody,  and  from  a  long  line  of  New  England 
ministers.  Dr.  Alonzo  A.  Miner  was  of  the  sev- 
enth generation  from  Thomas  Miner,  who  came 
to  Boston  in  1630.  Robert  C.  Winthrop,  LL.D., 
so  eminent  as  a  statesman,  an  orator,  and  an 
author,  was  of  the  sixth  generation  from  the  great 
Puritan  Governor,  John  Winthrop.  There  have 
been  eminent  men  in  every  period  of  the  history 
of  the  Winthrops,  but  none  have  been  more  ad- 
mirable than  the  eminent  man  who  has  so  lately 
passed  away.-^ 

The  Puritan  discipline  was  undoubtedly  severe, 
but  it  trained  men  for  heroic  action.  That  social 
and  family  life  of  theirs  is  still  bearing  fruit.  The 
Puritan  type  is  very  persistent.    No  other  section 

1  Proceedings  of  the  New  England  Historic  Genealogical 
Society,  1894-5-6.     Genealogical  Register,  1893-96. 


FAMILY  AND  SOCIAL  LIFE  OF  THE  PURITANS.        2'J'J 

of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  has  excelled  the  Puritans 
in  the  number  of  great  men  and  of  good  men, — 
soldiers  and  statesmen  and  scholars,  that  it  has 
produced.  Whether  the  social  and  family  life  of 
the  present  generation  in  New  England  is  likely 
to  preserve  the  type  for  other  generations  is  an 
interesting  and  important  question. 


VI. 


Religious   Opinions   of  the   Fathers 
of  New   England. 


Religious   Opinions   of  the   Fathers 
of  New   England. 

Tl^E  shall  fail  to  understand  the  Puritans  unless 
we  know  what  views  they  adopted  in  re- 
gard to  religious  truth.  For  their  whole  tone  and 
spirit,  and  their  methods  of  life,  were  the  outgrowth 
of  their  religious  opinions.  Like  a  great  poet  of 
our  time,  "  they  believed  in  the  soul,  and  were  very 
sure  of  God."  They  knew  that  He  was  not  far 
from  every  one  of  them.  Duty  to  God  was  their 
highest  rule.  Religious  motives  had  the  largest 
place  in  their  lives.  They  had  crossed  the  sea 
that  they  might  be  free  to  follow  their  convictions 
of  duty.  The  larger  number  of  them  had  been  in 
a  condition  of  comfort  in  England ;  some  of  them 
had  been  affluent.  The  early  years  of  the  reign 
of  Charles  the  First  had  been  times  of  great 
prosperity  for  those  who  could  fall  in  with  the 
teachings  of  the  Established  Church  and  with  the 
views  of  the  court.  But  they  had  left  their  Eng- 
lish homes  behind  them,  that  they  might  be  free 
to  follow  their  religious  convictions. 


282      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


I. 

The  Puritans  were,  first   of   all,    Protestants. 

They  lived  to  protest  against  error  and  to  bear 

witness  to  the  truth.   Their  Protestant- 

The  Puritans        .  ... 

were  Protest-  ism  was  01  that  intense  and  aggressive 
type,  which  generations  of  conflict  with 
the  Church  of  Rome  had  developed. 

As  Protestants  they  appealed  to  the  Bible  as 
the  only  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  of  duty.  They 
asserted  its  authority  in  opposition  to  that  of  the 
traditions  of  the  Church.  But,  in  the  interpreta- 
tion of  the  Bible  they  insisted  upon  the  right  of 
private  judgment.  They  denied  the  right  of  the 
Church,  or  of  the  councils,  to  give  them  an  inter- 
pretation of  the  Word.  A  Puritan  was  a  man 
who  submitted  with  meekness  to  the  teaching  of 
God's  word,  as  he  ttnderstood  it. 

As  consistent  Protestants,  the  Puritans  gave 
great  emphasis  to  the  doctrine  of  justification 
by  faith.  They  guarded  very  carefully,  in  their 
teachings,  against  the  covenant  of  works.  They 
would  not  admit  that  there  was  any  merit,  as  a 
ground  of  justification,  in  the  best  actions  of  the 
holiest  men. 

The  Puritans  derived  from  their  studv  of  the 
Bible  a  new  sense  of  the  sanctity  of  the  Lord's- 
day.      It  was  from  the  Puritans  that  the  English 


RELIGIOUS  OPINIONS  OP  THE  PURITAN  FATHERS.       283 

people  learned  to  keep  the  first  day  of  the  week 
so  strictly  that,  even  now,  their  habits  of  Sabbath 
observance  are  in  marked  contrast  with  those  of 
the  other  nations  of  Europe.  The  Puritan  clergy- 
men would  surrender  their  livinQ-s  sooner  than 
sanction  the  proclamation  of  the  king,  which  re- 
quired the  people  to  devote  a  part  of  the  day  to 
amusements.  The  King's  Book  of  Sports  served 
the  purpose  of  separating  the  Puritans  from  the 
other  classes  of  their  countrymen.  One  of  the 
leading  motives  in  the  great  Puritan  migration 
was  the  desire  to  establish  the  habit  of  the  strict 
observance  of  the  Lords-day  among  their 
children. 

The  whole  tone  and  spirit  of  New  England 
during  the  first  generation  was  unworldly,  to  a 
remarkable  degree.  There  was  a  good  deal  of 
propriety  in  calling  their  state  a  theocracy.  The 
sermons  of  the  seventeenth  century  were  longer 
and  more  abstract  than  those  of  our  time.  Many 
of  them  consisted  of  close  and  logical  discussions 
of  the  doctrines  of  the  Bible.  Some  of  them  were 
sections  of  theological  treatises.  Willard's  Body 
of  Divinity  deserves  to  rank  high  among  the 
theological  works  of  New  England ;  but  it  con- 
sists of  two  hundred  and  forty-six  sermons.  The 
first  of  them  was  preached  January  31,  1687;  the 
last,  April  i,  1707,  —  an  interval  of  twenty  years. 
John  Norton's  theological   works  were  given  to 


284      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

his  people  in  the  form  of  sermons.    So  were  those 
of  John  Cotton  and  of  Thomas  Hooker. 

The  few  books  which  the  Colonists  were  able 
to  have  in  their  homes  were,  for  the  most  part, 
theological.  They  became  as  skilful  as  the  Scot- 
tish people  in  theological  discussion.  They  were 
as  quick  to  detect  any  departure  from  the  stand- 
ards of  doctrine  which  they  had  accepted,  as  the 
Athenians  were  to  detect  faults  of  pronunciation, 
or  of  style,  in  their  orators.  In  those  periods  of 
their  history  there  was  good  reason  for  the  prac- 
tice of  preaching  as  candidates,  for  there  were 
persons  in  every  congregation  who  were  qualified 
to  form  an  intelligent  opinion  of  the  correctness 
of  the  teaching  of  the  preacher.  The  great  doc- 
trines of  religion  were  living  themes  for  the  people, 
the  subjects  of  discussion  at  the  fireside,  in  the 
market,  and  at  all  social  gatherings. 


11. 

Among  Protestants,  the  fathers  of  New  England 
belonged  to  the  Reformed  instead  of  the  Lutheran 
branch  of  the  Church,  and  to  the  Calvinistic  in- 
stead of  the  Arminian  party.  The  Pilgrims,  who 
settled  the  Old  Colony,  had  been  trained  under 
John  Robinson,  who  was  an  able  defender  of  the 
decrees  of  the  Synod  of  Dort  against  the  Armin- 
ians.     The  Puritans  of  the  Bay  Colony  found  the 


RELIGIOUS  OPINIONS  OP    THE  PURITAN  FATHERS.       285 

standards  of  the  Westminster  Assembly  the  best 
exponents  of  their  faith.  Up  to  the  time  of  the 
Westminster  Assembly,  there  does  not  xhewest- 
seem  to  have  been  much  discussion  ^0^3^^" 
among  them  as  to  the  particular  shade  catecMsms. 
of  Calvinism  they  would  teach.  Their  theology, 
like  their  religion,  had  been  shaped  by  the  hard 
experiences  of  their  lives.  It  may  be  that  the 
religion  of  the  camp  is  not  quite  the  same  as  that 
of  the  fireside.  The  Puritans  desired  to  exalt  the 
sovereignty  of  God,  for  they  believed  He  had 
chosen  them  for  a  great  mission,  and  they  de- 
pended utterly  upon  Him  for  protection  and  suc- 
cess. Many  of  those  who  had  been  driven  from 
England  had  spent  years  in  Geneva,  and  they 
had  been  influenced  by  the  decided  Calvinistic 
teachings  of  the  ministers  of  that  city.  There 
was  a  difference  among  them,  as  to  some  points 
in  the  system,  but  the  tendency  during  the  first 
two  generations  was  toward  a  very  high  type  of 
Calvinism. 


HI. 

The  books  that  were  written  in  New  EnHand, 
in  the  first  period,  related  to  the  organization  and 
discipline  of  the  churches,  rather  than 

..11  rr-i  TTT  r       1        Their  Interest 

to     theology.      "  The     Way     of    the  inthePouty 
Churches,"  "  Necessity  of  Separation,"  ^^^^^hurch. 
"  Why  Ruling  Elders  should  be  Chosen,"  "  The 


286       THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

Necessity  of  Infant  Baptism,"  "  Should  those  not 
in  Covenant  with  the  Church  present  their  Chil- 
dren for  Baptism  ?  "  —  these  are  specimens  of  the 
titles  of  the  early  pamphlets.  When  the  Synod 
was  convened  at  Cambridge,  in  1646,  it  devoted 
itself  to  the  Platform  of  Church  Government,  in- 
stead of  the  construction  of  a  New  Confession  of 
Faith.  The  reason  was  that  they  were  content, 
for  the  most  part,  to  accept  the  Westminster 
Confession ;  but  they  felt  the  need  of  rounding 
out  and  completing  that  form  of  Church  polity 
which  had  grown  up  in  New  England. 


IV. 

The  Puritans  were  always,  however,  deeply  in- 
terested in  theology.  What  their  views  were,  we 
may  learn  from  the  catechisms  which  they  taught 
their  children,  as  well  as  from  the  creeds  of  their 
churches,  and  from  the  books  which  they 
published. 

That  famous  catechism,  prepared  by  John  Cot- 
ton, in  1 64 1  or  1642,  at  the  request  of  the  General 
Court,  entitled  "  Milk  for  Babes,"  which  was  in 
common  use  for  about  a  century,  although  it  deals, 
for  the  most  part,  with  practical  mat- 

Milk  for  Babes.  V-     i  i 

ters  of  duty  to  God  and  to  men,  yet  sets 
forth  quite  distinctly  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity, 
of  the  Fall  of  Man,  asserting  that  "  we  sinned  in 


RELIGIOUS  OPINIONS  OP  THE  PURITAN  FATHERS.       28/ 

Adam,  and  fell  with  him/'  and  also  that  his.  sin  is 
imputed  to  us ;  that  the  wages  of  sin  is  death  ; 
that  "faith  is  a  grace  of  the  spirit  whereby  I  deny 
myself,  and  believe  on  Christ  for  righteousness  and 
salvation."  The  rhyming  couplet  in  the  New 
England  Primer: 

'*  In  Adam's  fall, 
We  sinned  all/' 

IS  not  unlike  the  teachings  of  this  catechism,  in 
which  several  generations  of  Puritan  children 
were  trained. 

Those  who  were  admitted  as  members  of  the 
Puritan  churches  were  required  to  give  to  the 
church  an  account  of  their  religious  experiences, 
and  also  of  their  "knowledge   in   the 
principles  of  religion."     This  "knowl-  Religious 
edge "    included    a   statement  of  what    ^^^"^"*^®^- 
truths  and  principles  they  had  deduced  from  the 
Scriptures.^     It  is  clear  from  the  early  pamphlets 
that  our  fathers  regarded  the  knowledge  of  the 
great  principles  of  the  Christian  religion  as  an 
important  preparation  for  admission  to  the  church. 
The  examination  of  the  candidates  as  to  their 
"  knowledge  of  the  principles  of  religion  "  led,  in 
the  course  of  time,  to  the  adoption  of  a  creed   by 
the  Church.     Thus,  the  church  in  Salem,  which 

^  These  points  are  fully  discussed  by  Professor  Williston 
Walker  in  his  Creeds  and  Platforms  of  Congregationalism,  107, 
notes.     He  quotes  the  original  authorities. 


28S      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

was  the  earliest  in  New  England,  next  to  the  Pil- 
grim church  in  Plymouth,  had  originally  only  this 
simple  covenant :  "  We  covenant  with  the  Lord, 
and  one  with  another:  and  do  bynd  ourselves  in 
the  presence  of  God,  to  walke  together  in  all  his 
Covenant  and  waics,  according  as  he  is  pleased  to 
chufch^i?^  reveale  himself  unto  us  in  his  Blessed 
Salem.  word  of  truth."     As  time  went  on,  it 

was  found  expedient  to  expand  this  covenant,  and 
make  it  more  specific.  In  1665,  a  formal  creed 
was  set  forth  with  this  title :  "  A  Direction  for  a 
Public  Profession  in  the  Church  Assembly,  after 
private  Examination  by  the  Elders :  which  Direc- 
tion is  taken  out  of  the  Scripture,  and  points  unto 
that  Faith  and  Covenant  contained  in  the  Scrip- 
ture; being  the  same  for  substance  which  was 
propounded  to  and  agreed  upon  by  the  Church  of 
Salem  in  their  beginning,  the  sixth  of  the  sixth 
moneth  1629."  This  ancient  Confession  of  Faith 
sets  forth  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity ;  of  God's 
providence  and  government  of  the  world ;  the  fall 
of  man ;  the  redemptive  work  of  Christ,  who 
"  became  man  that  he  might  redeem  and  save  us 
by  his  obedience  unto  death  ; "  of  the  Holy  Spirit ; 
who,  "  working  Faith  in  God's  Elect,  applyeth  unto 
them  Christ  with  all  his  Benefits  of  Justification, 
and  Sanctification,  unto  Salvation." 

The    history  of  the  first  Synod  called  by  the 
General  Court  of  Massachusetts,  which  met   in 


RELIGIOUS  OPINIONS  OP    THE  PURITAN  FATHERS.       289 

what  is  now  Cambridge,  in  1637,  gives  some  inti- 
mations of  the  discussions  which  went  on  amono- 
the  Colonists  in  the  earlier  years.  -^  Those  were 
the  days  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  who  came  to  Boston 
in  1634.  The  questions  which  were  The  First 
raised  by  her  bold  teachings,  set  the  |u{|!S^on^^' 
whole  Colony  in  a  turmoil.  The  Synod  1634-38. 
chose  Thomas  Hooker,  and  Peter  Bulkly  moder- 
ators, and  proceeded  to  consider  eighty-two  erro- 
neous opinions  which  had  been  set  forth  in  this 
country  at  various  times.  One  would  think  the 
Synod  had  abundant  work  on  its  hands,  for 
the  twenty-four  days  of  its  session.  Most  of  these 
errors  were  traced  to  the  teachings  of  Mrs. 
Hutchinson.  It  is  plain  that  the  intense  religious 
spirit  of  the  people  had  led  them  to  speculate  very 
freely  with  reference  to  the  questions  which  had 
been  raised  by  their  new  teachers.  Some  of  their 
speculations  were  crude,  and  some,  in  the  opinion 
of  the  Synod,  were  subversive  to  the  fundamen- 
tals of  religion.  Cotton  Mather  states  that  they 
were  of  an  Antinomian  and  Familistical  tendency. 
The  Synod  dealt  with  these  errors  one  by  one. 
After  stating  the  erroneous  opinions,  they  would 
say,  "  This  is  contrary  to  such  and  such  texts  of 
Scripture,"  and  this,  according  to  the  author  of 
the  Magnalia,  did  "  smite  the  error  under  the  fifth 

^  See  Winthrop's  History,  vol.  i.  284-288.     Three  Episodes  of 
Massachusetts  History,  1892.     Charles  Francis  Adams. 

19 


290      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND   AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

rib."  The  influence  of  this  Synod  tended  to  har- 
monize the  opinions  of  the  people.  In  1637, 
however,  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts 
banished  Mrs.  Hutchinson  and  some  of  her 
supporters  from  the  Colony.-^ 

About  the  time  of  the  Westminster  Assembly, 
there  was,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  sketch  of  Mr. 
pynchon's  Dis-  Pyuchon,^  morc  or  less  dissent  from 
price°o/^^^  some  of  the  statements,  which  it  was 
Redemption,  then  common  to  make,  in  regard  to  the 
Atonement.  Mr.  Pynchon  did  not  stand  alone 
in  his  denial  of  the  dogma  of  strict  satisfaction. 
Some  of  the  leading  men  among  the  Puritans  in 
England  were  in  sympathy  with  his  views.  But 
the  larger  number  were  against  him.  The  reply 
to  his  book,  by  Mr.  John  Norton,  asserted  in  the 
plainest  terms  that  the  Redeemer  suffered  the 
punishment  which  the  sinner  deserved  to  suffer. 
Mr.  Norton  did  not  hesitate  to  affirm  that  He 
suffered  the  torments  of  the  souls  that  are  lost. 
Both  parties  in  this  great  debate  imply  that  the 
Atonement  of  Christ  is  limited  to  the  elect,  and 
that  there  is  no  provision  for  the  salvation  of  those 
whom  God  has  not  chosen  unto  salvation. 

1  See  Mather's  Magnalia,  vol.  ii.  508-515.  Felt,  vol.  i.  313-319- 
Walker's  Creeds  and  Platforms,  133-135. 


^  See  pages  201-212  of  this  volume. 


RELIGIOUS  OPINIONS  OP    THE  PURITAN  FATHERS.       29 1 


V. 

The  meeting  of  the  Cambridge  Synod,  in  1646 
to  1648,  was  a  very  important  event,  not  only 
because  it  led  to  the   adoption  of  the  ^^  ^  ^  . 

^  The  Westmm- 

Cambridge  Platform  of  Church  Govern-  ster confession 
ment,  but  because  the  Synod  adopted, 
for  the  first  time,  in  the  name  of  the  churches  of 
New  England,  a  standard  of  doctrine.  In  the 
preface  to  the  Platform  the  Synod  declares  : 
*'Wee  beleive  &  profess  the  same  Doctrine  of 
the  trueth  of  the  Gospell,  which  generally  is 
received  in  all  the  reformed  Churches  of  Christ 
in  Europe :  so  especially,  we  desire  not  to  vary 
from  the  doctrine  of  faith,  &  truth  held  forth  by 
the  Churches  of  our  native  country."  It  is  further 
stated  in  this  preface,  that  the  Synod  voted  unan- 
imously, "  the  last  of  the  sixth  month  1648,  in 
these  words:  This  Synod,  having  perused,  and 
considered  the  Confession  of  faith  published  of 
late  by  the  Reverend  Assembly  in  England,  doe 
judge  it  to  be  very  holy,  orthodox,  &  judicious 
in  all  matters  of  faith:  &  doe  therefore  freely 
&  fully  consent  thereunto,  for  the  substance 
thereof."  ^  These  declarations  of  the  Synod  had 
an  important  influence  upon  the  theological  dis- 

1  Walker's  Creeds  and  Platforms,  194-196. 


292     THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

cussions  of  the  New  England  divines  for  the  next 
half  century,  as  we  shall  see  from  such  of  their 
works  as  have  come  down  to  us. 


VI. 

Within  a  few  years  after  the  time  of  the  Cam- 
bridge Synod,  a  number  of  theological  books  were 
produced  in  New  England,  which  were  the  first 
fruits  of  our  literature,  and  which  are  the  most 
authentic  statements  of  the  teachings  of  the  early 
divines  of  New  England. 

Thomas  Shepard,  the  first  pastor  of  the  church 
in  Cambridge,  left  a  number  of  works  which  show 
how  an  active  pastor,  and  an  earnest  preacher, 
understood  the  doctrines  of  the  Gospel.  Mr. 
Shepard  was  born  in  Northamptonshire,  in  1605, 
received  the  deofree  of  B.A.  from  Emmanuel  Col- 
lege,  Cambridge,  in  1623,  and  that  of  M.A.  in  1627. 
He  received  deacon's  orders,  and  was  appointed 
to  one  of  the  Puritan  lectureships,  in  Essex,  with 
a  salary  of  ^30  a  year.^  He  was  permitted  to 
labor  in  that  place  about  three  years  and  a  half, 
when  he  was  silenced  by  Bishop  Laud,  and  driven 
out  of  the  diocese.  After  incredible  sufferings 
from  persecution,  during  the  next  four  years,  he 
made  his  escape  in  disguise,  and  sailed  for  New 

1  Shepard's  Works,  Doctrinal  Tract  and  Book  Society,  Boston, 
'853.  3  vols.  vol.  i.  Ixx.  Cromwell's  Letters  and  Speeches,  by 
Carlyle,  vol.  i.  50. 


RELIGIOUS  OPINIONS  OP   THE  PURITAN  FATHERS.       293 

England,  in  1635.  The  next  year,  the  Church  in 
Cambridge  was  formed,  and  Mr.  Shepard  was 
ordained  as  the  first  pastor.  That  was  the  year 
in  which  Harvard  College  was  founded  in  Cam- 
bridge. Mr.  Shepard  deserves  to  rank  with 
Cotton,  and  Hooker,  and  Mather,  among  the 
leading  ministers  in  the  Colonies.  His  works 
belong  to  the  first  generation,  for  he  died  in  1649. 
"  God's  decree,"  he  says,  "  is  His  eternal  and  de- 
terminate purpose  concerning  the  effecting  of  all 
things,  by  His  mighty  power,  according  to  His 
counsel."  And  yet,  as  a  preacher,  Mr.  Shepard 
held  to  the  freedom  of  the  will.  "  In  the  fall,  "  he 
tells  us,  "  man  abused  his  own  free  will,  in  yield- 
ing to  the  temptations  which  he  might  have 
resisted."  The  sin  of  Adam  "  is  imputed  unto  us, 
and  so  the  punishment  must  needs  follow  upon  it."^ 
He   reasons    in   the   usual  manner   in     _  , 

Theology  of 

regard  to  this  imputation.  "  We  were  Thomas 
in  Adam,  as  the  members  are  in  the 
head,  —  as  children  in  his  loins,  —  as  debtors  in 
their  surety,  as  branches  in  their  roots  :  it  being 
just  that,  as,  if  he  standing,  all  had  stood  by  impu- 
tation of  his  righteousness,  —  so,  he  falling,  all 
should  fall  by  imputation  of  his  sin."  So  he  de- 
clares that  "  every  man  living  is  born  guilty  of 
Adam's  sin."  ^  "  The  justice  and  equity  is  this  :  — 
All    our    estates  were    contained  in   that  ship." 

1  Works,  vol.  i.  335-351.  ^  Ibid.,  24. 


294       ^^^  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

"  We  were  all  in  Adam,  as  a  whole  country  is  in 
a  Parliament  man,  and  though  we  made  no  agree- 
ment to  have  Adam  stand  for  us,  yet  the  Lord 
made  it  for  us." 

Passing  next  to  Redemption,  he  tells  us  that, 
"  It  is  the  satisfaction  made,  or  the  price  paid  to 
the  justice  of  God,  for  the  life  and  deliverance  of 
man  out  of  the  captivity  of  sin,  Satan,  and  death, 
by  a  Redeemer,  according  to  a  covenant  made 
between  Him  and  the  Father."  So  it  came  to 
pass  that  "  Christ  stood  in  the  room  of  all  them 
whom  mercy  decreed  to  save."  "  Justification  is 
the  gracious  act  of  God,  whereby,  for  the  satisfac- 
tion of  Christ,  apprehended  by  faith,  and  imputed 
to  the  faithful.  He  absolves  them  from  the  guilt  and 
condemnation  of  all  sin,  and  accepts  them,  as 
perfectly  righteous,  to  eternal  life."  "  Faith  is 
the  first  act  of  our  spiritual  life,  whereby,  the  soul, 
believing  God,  believeth  in  Him,  and  thus  resteth, 
as  in  the  only  author  and  principle  of  life."^  In 
this  passage  he  teaches  that  faith  is  an  act  of  the 
believer.  So  he  taught  that  the  sinner  is  free  in 
his  rejection  of  Christ.  "  The  cause  of  this  ruin," 
he  says,  "  is  from  themselves."  As  a  practical 
preacher,  Shepard  found  it  important  to  teach 
this  truth  with  great  earnestness.  It  is  very  plain, 
that  those  old  Calvinistic  preachers  tried  to  develop 
a  sense  of  freedom  and  of  responsibility  among 
those  to  whom  they  were  preaching. 

1  Sum  of  the  Christian  Religion. 


RELIGIOUS  OPINIONS  OP   THE  PURITAN  FATHERS.      295 


VII. 

The  Orthodox  Evangelist,  by  John  Norton,  of 
Ipswich,  is  one  of  the  oldest  elaborate  theologi- 
cal works  of  the  New  England  divines.  It  was 
published  in  London,  in  1654.  The  original 
edition    contains    three   hundred    and 

.  The  Orthodox 

nfty-nve  pages,  and  was  written  for  Evangeust,  by 
the  use  of  thoughtful  laymen  in  the  J°^^°^°"* 
Puritan  churches.  The  author  was  a  preacher 
and  pastor,  as  well  as  a  well-read  theologian. 
After  a  very  subtle  discussion  of  the  essence  of 
God,  and  of  His  attributes,  he  proceeds  to  His 
eternal  decrees. 

"  The  decree  of  God,"  he  says,  "  is  God's  one, 
eternal,  free,  constant  act,  absolutely  determining 
the  infallible  being  of  whatever  is,  besides  Him- 
self, unto  the  praise  of  His  own  glory."  He 
says,  with  Calvin :  "  God  willeth  by  one  single 
act.  With  Him  there  is  nothing  past,  —  nothing 
to  come,  but  all  is  present.  Whatever  He  thinks. 
He  always  has  thought,  and  always  doth,  and  will 
think.  There  can  no  more  be  a  new  thought, 
or  purpose,  than  a  new  God."^  "  The  decree  of 
God  is  the  antecedent  of  sin,  but  it  is  not  the 
cause  of  sin."  "  God  is  free  from  any  motive 
besides    His    own    will."      "  God    is    essentially 

1  Orthodox  Evangelist,  51,  52. 


296      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


good: — He  is  goodness  itself."  "All  goodness 
cometh  from  Him."  "  God  is  a  full  fountain ; 
willing  to  communicate  of  His  goodness,  as  the 
sun  communicates  of  its  light."  ^  "  The  will  of 
God  is  the  rule  of  justice  between  Him  and  His 
creatures.  The  holiness  of  God  is  conformity 
unto  Himself."^  "The  justice  of  God  leads 
Him  to  render  unto  the  reasonable  creature 
what  is  due  thereunto,  according  to  His  word, 
whether  by  way  of  grace,  or  punishment." 

In  respect  to  man,  he  says:  "The  liberty  of 
man,  though  subordinate  to  God's  decree,  freely 
willeth  the  very  same  thing,  and  no  other,  than 
that  which  it  would  have  willed,  had  there  been 
no  decree.  Man  acts  as  freely  as  if  there  were 
no  decree.  Liberty  is  the  effect  of  the  decree  ;  so 
far  is  the  decree  from  being  a  hindrance  to 
liberty."  ^  In  the  same  connection,  he  says  : 
"All  who  hear  the  gospel,  are  equally  bound  to 
believe.  How  can  God  command  those  to 
believe,  whom  He  hath  decreed  that  they  shall 
not  believe  ?  "  "  Hope  is  grounded  upon  God's 
revealed  will,  not  upon  the  decree  that  is  unre- 
vealed."  "  Every  person  that  heareth  the  gospel 
is  equally  capable  of  believing.  We  are  to  look 
upon  all  those  living  under  the  gospel  as  elected, 
in   the   judgement  of  charity.     It  is  the  duty  of 

1  Orthodox  Evangelist,  12.  »  Ibid.,  ^d. 

2  Ibid.,  16. 


RELIGIOUS  OPINIONS  OP   THE  PURITAN  FATHERS.       29/ 

every  one  to  believe."  ^  "  It  is  a  sin  for  any  to 
conclude  in  this  life  that  he  is  among  the 
reprobate." 

He  agrees  with  the  other  Calvinists  of  his  time 
in  respect  to  the  fall  of  man,  and  the  consequences 
of  the  fall.  "  Adam,  being  a  public  person,  his 
posterity,  in  a  seminal  respect,  was  contained  in 
his  loins,  and  so  sinned  in  him  sinning."  "  Adam 
might  not  have  sinned  ;  and  yet,  it  could  not  be  but 
that  Adam  should  sin.  Both  of  these  are  true."^ 
"  Necessity  and  liberty  consist  together."  "  God 
imputes  the  guilt  of  his  sin  to  all  his  posterity." 
"  Original  sin  is  propagated  in  the  soul  by  reason 
of  the  sin  of  Adam."  ^  "  The  soul  contracts  sin, 
by  its  connection  with  the  body,  as  when  one  falls 
into  the  dirt,  he  is  defiled,  and  besmeared."  "  God, 
whiles  He  creates  souls,  doth  deprive  them  of 
oriorinal  risfhteousness."* 

And  yet  he  teaches  that  "  the  Parable  of  the 
Prodigal  Son's  return  unto  his  father's  house  is 
proposed  as  the  pattern  of  the  sinner's  being 
brought  home  unto  Jesus  Christ.  The  younger 
son  was  sensible  of  his  lost  condition  before  he 
was  found."  ^  Still,  "  the  elect's  seeking  God,  is 
the  effect  of  God's  seeking  them.  Our  seeking 
before  faith  is  the  effect  of  the  common  work  of 
the  Spirit :  our  seeking  after  faith  is  the  effect  of 

^  Orthodox  Evangelist,  198-200.  ^  Ibid.,  74. 

3  Ibid.,  143.  4  Ibid.,  140-144.  ^  Ibid.,  138. 


298      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

the  saving  work  of  the  Spirit."-^  "The  Armin- 
ians  tax  the  Orthodox  for  asserting  all  acts  before 
faith  to  be  sin  ;  and  they  pretend  that  there  is  in 
man,  before  regeneration,  a  hunger  and  thirst,  after 
righteousness,  and  a  hatred  of  sin.  They  say  that 
to  all  such  God  giveth  sufficient  grace  to  believe, 
But  this  is  contrary  to  the  Scripture."  ^ 

"  Saving  faith  is  an  impulse  or  motion  of  the 
spirit  of  grace.  It  enables  the  soul  to  yield  obedi- 
irresistibie  cucc  unto  the  Commands  of  God."  ^ 
Grace.  u  '\\^q  gQul  is  passivc  in  vocation ;  that 

is,  in  the  infusion  of  the  principle  of  life."  *  "  The 
manner  of  working  of  faith  is  irresistible,  that 
is,  it  prevaileth  over  all  opposition."  But  there 
are  certain  means  of  obtaining  faith ;  such  as 
"  God's  love  to  men,  and  Christ's  work  for 
sinners,  and  the  invitations  of  the  gospel."^ 

"Justification  is  a  gracious  act  of  God  upon  a 
believer,  whereby  he  doth  freely  discharge  him 
from  sin,  and  accept  him  as  righteous  with  the 
righteousness  of  Christ,  and  acknowledge  him 
to  have  a  ricrht  to  eternal  life.  The  efficient 
cause  of  Justification  is  the  good  pleasure  of 
God."^ 

These  citations  are  sufficient  to  show  the 
method  of  this  most  logical  of  the  early  divines 
of  New  England.     Undoubtedly,  he   held  firmly 

1  Orthodox  Evangelist,  159.         ^  Ibid.,  220,         ^  Ibid.,  213,  214. 

2  Ibid.,  166.  '^  Ibid.,  257.         ^  Ibid.,  300. 


RELIGIOUS  OPINIONS  OF   THE  PURITAN  FATHERS.      299 

the  system  of  John  Calvin,  in  all  its  essential 
points.  And  yet  he  sought  constantly  to  guard 
against  the  tendency  of  that  system  to  a  denial  of 
human  freedom,  and  of  personal  responsibility. 
He  made  much  of  the  free  love  of  God,  and  of 
the  motives  of  the  Gospel.  It  is  plain  that  his 
methods  of  thinking  as  a  logician  were  very  often 
modified  by  his  moral  instincts  as  a  preacher. 

A  greater  man  than  John  Norton,  was  the 
learned  and  accomplished  Thomas  Hooker, 
whose  moving  eloquence  in  the  pulpit  was 
equalled  only  by  his  statesmanship.  Hooker 
was  the  author  of  a  large  number  of  religious 
books,  which  contain  altogether  more  than  two 
thousand  pages.  These  were  printed  at  various 
times  between  1637  and  1651.  One 
of  them  was  printed  in  Amsterdam,  thepreacher^^' 
the  others  in   London.      We    find    in  and  Practical 

Theologian. 

these  books  the  theology  of  Calvin, 
concerning  the  decrees,  the  fall  of  man,  original 
sin,  inability,  irresistible  grace,  and  the  persever- 
ance of  the  saints.  This  theology,  however,  is 
used  in  a  practical  way,  and  accommodated  to 
the  exigencies  of  the  preacher.  There  are  hints 
in  these  volumes  of  the  distinction  between 
natural  and  moral  ability,  w^hich  President 
Edwards  brought  out  a  hundred  years  later. 
Hooker  teaches  that  man  is  free,  and  therefore 
fully  responsible.    He  makes  much  of  the  abound- 


300      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


ing  love  of  God,  and  of  the  free  and  hearty  offers 
of  divine  grace. 

His  longest  work  is  entiUed  ''The  Soul's 
Vocation,  or  Effectual  Calling  to  Christ,"  pub- 
lished in  London  in  1638,  and  contains  six  hun- 
dred and  sixty-eight  pages.     He  says  :  — 

"  The  offer  of  grace  from  God  is  free  :  the  means  of 
grace  are  also  free :  grace  must  be  free  because  there  is 
nothing  in  man  to  purchase  it :  and  because  he  can  do 
nothing  to  merit  it.  The  saints  should  therefore  mag- 
nify the  mercy  of  God.  The  wicked,  that  want  this 
mercy,  should  take  encouragement,  and  seek  after  this 
mercy,  seeing  it  is  free.  Those  burdened  under  their 
sins  should  hope  for  mercy  from  the  freeness  of  it.  The 
soul  must  be  willing  to  recieve  Christ  and  grace  before 
it  will  have  Christ  and  grace."  ^ 

"The  will  is  the  natural  power  or  faculty  wherewith 
every  one  is  endowed  to  will."  "  The  will  is  the  hand  of 
the  soul.  But  the  hand  must  turn  towards  the  object, 
The  Saint's  and  Open  itself  before  it  can  grasp  its  object. 
Vocation.  g^  ^  ^^^^  must  turn  his  will  towards  an  ob- 

ject and  open  itself  The  hand  of  the  soul  must  be  open, 
before  it  can  close  with  and  fasten  upon  a  thing.  When 
the  soul  opens  the  hand  to  catch  at  grace,  and  lay  hold 
thereupon,  then  it  wills  to  receive  grace.  So,  when  we 
are  unwilling  to  receive  a  thing,  we  turn  away  our  hearts 
from  the  thing.  When  the  soul  is  unwilling  to  receive 
anything,  it  shuts  itself  against  that  thing,  and  will  by 
no  means  receive  it."  ^  "  Whosoever  in  truth  doth  will 
to  have  Christ,  shall  receive  him."  ^ 

1  The  Soul's  Vocation,  1-23. 

2  Ibid.,  31.  8  Ibid.,  54. 


RELIGIOUS  OPINIONS  OP    THE  PURITAN  FATHERS.      3OI 

*'  No  man,  of  himself,  by  nature,  can  will  to  receive 
Christ.  A  natural  man  hath  no  power  to  receive  Christ, 
as  we  learn  from  I  Cor.  ii.  14.  The  natural  man  is  un- 
willing to  be  wrought  upon,  that  he  may  be  made  cap- 
able to  receive  the  grace  of  God."  ^  ''  While  life  is 
continued,  and  the  means  of  grace  afforded  to  a  people, 
that  is  the  season  wherein  God  meaneth  to  lead  the  soul 
to  recieve  life  and  salvation."  ^ 

This  passage  is  followed  by  a  most  earnest  and 
tender  appeal  to  the  hearers  to  give  themselves 
up  at  once  to  the  Saviour,  who  is  even  now  wait- 
ing for  their  acceptance. 

In  another  volume,  Hooker  says  :  — 

"  Every  man  in  his  natural  state  is  fastened  and  settled 
in  sinne  and  corruption.  They  are  in  slavery  to  sinne. 
But  God  draws  the  hearts  of  sinners,  first,  by  giving  them 
light;  then  by  the  manifesting  of  His  mercy,  namely, 
by  his  readiness  to  receive  sinners,  by  his  calls  and  en- 
treaties to  them  to  come,  by  his  patience  in  waiting  for 
them.  He  also  draws  them  by  their  own  consciences, 
which  warn  them  of  their  sinne,  and  bear  witness  against 
it.     More  than  all,  he  draws  them  by  his  Spirit"  ^ 

In  "  The  Saints  Dignitie  and  Dutie  "  we  read :  — 

**  Christ  gave  himself  to  incarnation  that  he  might  be 
the  ransom  of  the  guilty.  He  suffered  the  wrath  of  God. 
He  made  a  covenant  with  the  Father,  and  He  gave  a 
perfect  price,  for  the  full  payment  of  whatever  is  due  to 
God  for  all  those  for  whom  He  paid  it." 

1  The  Soul's  Vocation,  85.  2  ibj^.,  160. 

8  The  Unbelievers  Preparing  for  Christ,  44. 


302      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


Without  further  quotation,  it  is  hut  just  to 
say  that  Hooker  sets  forth  the  truth  with  great 
spiritual  discrimination,  great  tenderness,  and 
fidehty,  and  with  a  sweet  reasonableness,  which 
must  have  commended  the  Gospel  to  the  people 
to  whom  the  sermons  contained  in  these  volumes 
were  preached. 

VIII. 

We  pass  over  half  a  century,  to  the  time  of 
President  Willard.  There  had  been  a  decHne  in 
the  religious  spirit  of  the  people  during  that 
period.  The  prevalent  Calvinism  was  stated  in 
harsher  and  more  dogmatic  forms.  Willard's 
Body  of  Divinity  was  begun  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  seventeenth  century.  It  was  the  earliest 
folio  on  theology  published  in  this  country,  and 
the  largest  book  that  had  been  published  on  any 
subject.^  It  is  in  the  form  of  lectures  on  the 
Shorter  Catechism.  It  is  valuable  as  a  statement, 
by  an  able  man,  of  the  theological  system  which 
had  prevailed  for  half  a  century  before  President 
Edwards  set  forth  his  Improvements  in  theology. 

President  Willard  expounded  very  clearly  the 
external  and  internal  evidence  of  the  divine 
authority  of  the  Bible.     He  taught  the  doctrine  of 

1  A  Compleat  Body  of  Divinity,  by  the  Reverend  and  Learned 
Samuel  Willard,  late  Pastor  of  the  South  Church  in  Boston,  and 
Vice-President  of  Harvard  College.     914  pages.     Boston,  1726. 


RELIGIOUS  OPINIONS  OF   THE  PURITAN  FATHERS.       303 


verbal  inspiration.  The  justice  of  God,  he  says, 
is  His  "inclination  to  render  to  all  their  due 
according  to  rule."  ^  The  benignity  of  God  is 
"  God  willing  bountifully  to  bestow  the  good 
things  of  this  life  upon  sinners."  ^  "  Election  is  an 
act  of  grace.  Redemption  is  an  act  of  pure  grace." 
Election  is  absolute,  not  hypothetical.  The  sub- 
jects of  election  are  a  definite  number  of  men. 
"  There  are  some  men  to  whom  God  doth  not 
afford  the  means  and  offices  of  Salvation,  and  they 
must  needs  perish."  "  Adam  stood  not  as  a  pri- 
vate, but  a  public  person.  He  was  the  represen- 
tative, and  the  common  stock  of  all  Adam  the  Root 
mankind.  All  men  were  in  him.  If  oftneRace. 
they  were  in  him,  and  sinned  in  him,  how  can 
they  be  other  than  sinners  ?  Adam  sinned  and 
all  sinned  in  him."  ^ 

"  God  is  under  no  obligation  to  redeem  men 
before  His  good  pleasure."  *  "  God's  love  of  cer- 
tain persons  is  not  the  cause  of  their  election,  nor 
is  His  hatred  of  others  the  cause  of  their  repro- 
bation." The  last  end  of  God's  election  is  the 
manifestation  and  exaltation  of  the  glory  of  His 
grace."  "  Reprobation  is  the  predestination  of  a 
definite  number  of  men  for  the  manifestation  of 
the  glory  of  God's  revenging  justice  in  them."  ^ 
But  "  reprobation  doth  not  take  away  the  liberty 

1  Body  of  Divinity,  JS-  ^  ^^i^-'  ^4- 

3  Ibid.,  196-197.  4  Ibid.,  251.  5  Ibid.,  262-264. 


304       THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND, 

of  the  creature.      God  made  no  man  on  purpose 
to  damn  him." 

He  gives  abundant  space  to  the  subject  of  Re- 
demption.    The    humanity   of    Christ,    he    says, 
"  was    a    compleat    undivided    human 

Christ  the  ^ 

Redeemer  of  nature."  "  The  body  of  Christ  had  its 
natural  origin  from  his  mother."  ^  The 
satisfaction  by  which  Christ  made  reconciliation 
was  given  to  the  justice  of  God.  He  suffered  the 
penalty  for  our  sin.  Christ  died  for  the  elect. 
"  The  covenant  of  redemption  must  last  as  long 
as  there  are  any  of  God's  elect  to  be  born." 
"  Christ  died  for  a  select  company  that  was  known 
to  him,  by  name,  from  eternity."  ^ 

"  In  his  natural  state,  no  man  hath  any  seed  of 

faith  in  him.      His  only  capacity  is  a  capacity  to 

receive  faith."     "  The  cause  of  effectual  callino:  is 

the    everlastinof   love   of    God."     The 

Inability.  .    .  ^ 

Spirit  of  God  deals  with  the  under- 
standing and  the  will.  He  changes  the  will.  The 
ability  is  from  God.  We  are  persuaded  and 
enabled  to  embrace  Christ.  The  terms  are  pre- 
sented, and  the  sinner  is  made  willing.^  "  There 
is  a  miserable  impotency  and  malignity  of  will 
with  respect  to  holy  choices."  The  will  remains 
a  will,  however.  It  has  not  lost  its  natural  power. 
It  cannot  be  forced.      But    a  divine  change  is 

1  Body  of  Divinity,  293-298.  ^  Ibid.,  428-436. 

2  Ibid.,  331-383. 


RELIGIOUS  OPINIONS   OP    THE  PURITAN  FATHERS.       305 

necessary.  The  new  principle  of  saving  grace  in 
the  will  and  the  affections  is  from  God.  "  We  are 
passive  in  conversion,"  and  yet  "  there  is  an  active 
as  well  as  a  passive  conversion."  "  The  man  is 
dead.  When  the  Spirit  has  given  him  life,  then  he 
is  active  in  conversion."  "Justification  is  immut- 
able: therefore  a  justified  person  can  never  again 
come  under  a  Law-guilt."  "  In  sanctification  there 
is  a  new  power  or  ability  put  into  the  man."  "  A 
natural  man  can  contribute  nothing  to  his  own 
conversion."  ^ 

These  quotations  are  perhaps  enough  to  give  a 
correct  impression  of  this  theology  of  the  later 
Puritan  age.  The  difference  between  this  and 
the  teachings  of  the  earlier  divines  like  Hooker 
and  Norton  is  that  President  Willard  places  the 
emphasis  upon  the  divine  work  in  our  salvation, 
so  as  to  leave  little  room  for  the  use  of  motives 
addressed  to  free  and  responsible  beings,  while 
Hooker  and  Norton  are  chiefly  concerned  to  de- 
velop a  sense  of  responsibility  and  of  obligation. 
Theirs  was  a  theology  that  could  be  preached. 


IX. 

The  theological  views  of  our  forefathers  were 
influenced  by  their  experiences  in  their  new  homes, 
quite  as  much  as  by  the  writings  of  their  divines. 

1  Body  of  Divinity,  449-505. 


306       THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

If  some  of  their  opinions  were  severe,  there  was, 
after  all,  a  fountain  of  gentleness  and  kindness  in 
the  heart  of  the  typical  Puritan. 

One  of  the  remarkable  episodes  in  New  Eng- 
land history  relates  to  the  Half-Way  Covenant, 
which  was  approved  by  the  Synod  of  1662,  and 
which  was  in  use  for  more  than  a  hundred  years. 
The  Puritans  seem  to  have  adopted  this,  partly  on 
account  of  their  interest  in  their  children  and 
grandchildren,  who  were  growing  up  in  the  Colo- 
nies which  they  had  planted  in  the  wilderness. 
It  was  the  easier  for  them  to  make  this  departure 
from  the  method  of  the  first  generation  of  Colo- 
nists, because  the  Puritans  were  never  rigid 
Separatists.  There  was  a  good  deal  of  truth  in 
the  remark  of  Roger  Williams,  that  the  "  Churches 
of  the  Bay  Colony  were  unseparated  Churches." 
Although  they  followed  the  pattern  of  the  Church 

in  Plymouth  in  the  organization  of  their 
Covenant.'  ^^    Churchcs,  they  still  regarded  the  Church 

of  England  as  their  "Dear  Mother;" 
and  they  had  not  forgotten  its  methods  of  baptism, 
and  confirmation,  and  hereditary  membership. 

The  early  Puritans  had  made  it  a  cardinal  doc- 
trine that  none  should  be  members  of  the  Church 
except  those  who  gave  evidence  that  they  had 
been  regenerated  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  They 
believed  that  the  corruptions  of  the  Church  of 
England  were  due  to  the  easy  terms  on  which 


RELIGIOUS  OPINIONS  OF    THE  PURITAN  FATHERS.       307 

persons  had  been  admitted  to  the  Lord's  Table. 
They  attempted  to  limit  the  membership  in  their 
new  churches  to  those  who  were  able  to  relate  an 
experience  of  a  work  of  grace  in  their  souls.  And 
yet  they  desired,  in  some  way,  to  bring  their  infant 
children  into  some  connection  with  the  Church. 
"  We  find  in  Scripture,"  they  said,  "  that  the  Lord 
is  very  tender  of  His  grace,  that  He  delighteth  to 
manifest  and  magnifie  the  riches  of  it,  and  that  He 
cannot  endure  any  straining  or  eclipsing  thereof, 
which  is  both  dishonorable  unto  God,  and  injuri- 
ous unto  men.  And  in  special,  He  is  large  in 
the  Grace  of  His  Covenant,  which  He  maketh 
with  His  visible  Church  and  people,  and  tender  of 
having  the  same  straitned.  Hence,  when  He 
takes  any  into  Covenant  with  Himself,  He  will 
not  only  be  their  God,  but  the  God  of  their  seed 
after  them  in  their  generations.  .  .  .  Hence,  we 
dare  not,  with  the  Anti-psedobaptist,  exclude  the 
infant  children  of  the  faithful  from  the  covenant, 
or  from  membership  in  the  visible  church,  and  con- 
sequently, not  from  Baptism,  the  seal  thereof."  -^ 

And  so  they  held,  that  the  children  of  believers 
are  included  with  their  parents,  and  are  entitled 
to  all  church  privileges  of  which  infants  are  capa- 
ble.     Among     these    privileges    was    baptism.  ^ 

1  Preface  to  the  Result  of  the  Synod  of  1662,  Walker's  Creeds 
and  Platforms,  303.     See  also  Mather's  Magnalia,  vol.  ii.  238. 

2  Mather  on  Church  Government,  21-22. 


308       THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND, 

They  baptized  their  children,  because  these  chil- 
dren were  already  members  of  the  Church,  by 
reason  of  the  covenant  into  which  their  parents 
had  entered.  The  older  divines  —  Cotton,  Daven- 
port, Hooker,  and  Richard  Mather  —  held,  in  the 
earlier  years,  that  none  but  children  of  "  visible 
saints"  should  be  baptized.  But  these  baptized 
children  constituted  a  peculiar  class  in  the  Puritan 
churches.  They  were  members,  but  not  in  full 
Communion.  Their  membership  brought  to  them 
certain  blessings  of  the  covenant.  They  v/ere 
hereditary  members,  and  so  under  the  watch  and 
care  of  the  Church.  But  they  were  not  permitted 
to  come  to  the  Lord's  Table,  or  to  vote  in  the 
meetings  of  the  Church  until  they  should  profess 
their  assent  to  the  doctrines  of  the  Church,  and 
accept  its  covenant,  and  give  satisfactory  evidence 
that  they  were  born  of  the  Spirit. 

Unfortunatel3^  as  we  shall  presently  see,  the 
number  of  those  in  the  Puritan  churches  who 
were  in  full  communion  was  not  large.  For 
some  reason,  the  means  of  grace  were  not  as  fruit- 
ful as  had  been  expected.  So  that,  in  the  second 
and  third  generations,  there  was  a  large  number 
of  parents,  who  were  not  in  "  full  communion " 
with  the  churches.  Most  of  these  parents  were 
accounted  as  members  of  the  churches,  because 
they  had  been  baptized ;  but  they  were  not  com- 
municants.    Should  they  be  permitted  to  present 


RELIGIOUS  OPINIONS  OF  THE  PURITAN  FATHERS.        309 

their  children  for  baptism,  on  the  strength  of  their 
half-way  membership  ?  According  to  the  earlier 
practice  they  were  not  permitted  to  do  so.  But 
it  was  found  that  this  practice  was  leaving  the 
majority  of  the  children  without  baptism. 

This  matter  was  earnestly  debated  in  Massa- 
chusetts and  Connecticut  for  many  years.  The 
tide  was  turning,  and  some  of  the  older  ministers 
beoan  to  relax  the  strictness  of  their  views.  In 
1656,  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts  sum- 
moned a  council  of  ministers,  who  were  desig- 
nated by  name,  to  meet,  with  such  others  as  any 
of  the  "  Confederated  Colonies  "  should  send,  to 
clear  up  the  question.  The  Council  met  in  1657, 
in  Boston,  and  decided  that  all  members  of  the 
Church  had  the  right  to  present  their  children  for 
baptism,  though  some  of  them  had  not  the  right 
to  come  to  the  Lord's  Table. 

This  decision  of  the  Council,  or  Assembly,  was 
not  accepted  as  decisive.  Some  of  the  leading 
men,  like  President  Chauncy  in  Massachusetts, 
and  Mr.  Davenport  in  Connecticut,  objected  to  it, 
as  an  abandonment  of  the  principle  of  a  converted 
Church  membership.  Finally,  the  General  Court 
of  Massachusetts  called  a  proper  Synod,  composed 
of  all  the  ministers  and  the  representa-  The  synod 
tives  of  all  the  churches  in  the  Colony.  °^^^^^- 
This  Synod  met  in  Boston,  the  second  Tuesday 
in    March,    1662.       It   contained   about   seventy 


3IO       THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

members,  one-third  of  them  ministers.  The 
principal  question  given  to  them  was  this :  Who 
are  the  Subjects  of  Baptism  ? 

After  some  weeks  of  consideration  and  debate, 
the  Synod,  by  a  vote  of  seven  to  one,  decided  in 
favor  of  the  Half- Way  Covenant.     They  held  that 
parents  who  had  been   baptized   in  infancy,  who 
were  not  scandalous  in  life,  and  who  had  solemnly 
owned  the  covenant  before  the   Church,  wherein 
they  gave  themselves  and  their  children  to   the 
Lord,  might  present  their  children  for  baptism. 
This    was    called    the  Half-Way    Covenant,  be- 
cause these  parents   were    in  covenant  with   the 
Church,  not  as  "visible   saints,"  who    had   been     | 
renewed  by  the   Holy  Spirit,  and  who  were  pre- 
pared to  come  to   the  Lord's  Table,   but  only  as 
baptized  persons   who  had  an  intellectual  belief  in 
the  truth,  and  who  were  living  moral  lives.     These     ; 
parents  were  in  the  Church  on  account  of  the  faith     ; 
of  their  parents,  at  one  remove  ;  and  their  children     j 
were  in  the  Church  on  account  of  the  faith  of  their     j 
grandparents,  at  two  removes. 

The  decision  of  the  Synod  added  intensity  to     \ 

the  discussions  among  the  people.     A  multitude     ] 

of  pamphlets  followed,  in  which  one  can      i 

Dissent  from  ^  ^ 

the  Views  of     still  read  the  close  and  earnest  discus- 
the Synod.         gjQns  of  two  huudrcd  and  thirty  years 
ago.   There  were  Synodists  and  Anti-synodists.   A      ■ 
decided  majority  of  the  ministers  favored  the  Half- 


RELIGIOUS  OPINIONS  OP  THE  PURITAN  FATHERS.        31I 

Way  Covenant.  A  large  number  of  the  people 
never  accepted  it.  Some  of  the  most  learned  and 
able  ministers  warned  the  people  that  the  new 
method  would  open  the  doors  of  the  churches  to  the 
unworthy,  and  that  it  would  tend  to  throw  into  the 
shade  the  work  of  the  Spirit  in  regeneration. 
The  need  of  a  change  of  heart  would  not  be  felt 
by  those  who  had  not  only  been  admitted  to  mem- 
bership in  the  Church,  but  who  had  participated 
in  some  of  its  most  sacred  rites.-^ 

President  Chauncy,  of  Harvard,  and  John 
Davenport,  of  New  Haven,  led  the  opposition  to 
the  new  system,  while  Wilson  and  Norton  and 
Mather,  among  the  older  ministers,  and  a  large 
number  of  the  younger  ministers  were  its  earnest 
advocates.  Cotton  Mather  tells  us  that  although 
the  pastors  generally  favored  it,  yet  in  many  of 
the  churches  a  number  of  the  brethren  were  so 
decided  in  their  opposition  that  it  was  not 
practicable  to  follow  the  recommendations  of  the 
Synod.  The  First  Church  in  Boston,  as  soon  as 
there  was  a  vacancy  in  the  pastorate,  called  Mr. 
Davenport  to  be  their  minister  on  account  of  his 
opposition  to  the  Half- Way  Covenant.  This  call 
led  to  a  division  of  the  church,  and  the  formation 
of  what  is  now  the  Old  South  Church.^  For 
some  years  these  two  churches  did  not  commune 

1  Mather's  Magnalia,  vol.  ii.  259-266. 

2  Ibid,,  266. 


312       THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


with  each  other.  But  those  who  accepted  the 
new  methods  were  the  more  numerous  party, 
and  the  tendency  was  for  those  who  had  been 
opposed  to  them  to  fall  in  with  the  common 
practice.  A  few  churches,  however,  never  ac- 
cepted the  laxer  method. 

As  time  went  on,  the  Half-Way  Covenant 
was  itself  modified.  In  the  beginning,  only 
those  who  had  themselves  received  baptism,  were 
permitted  to  own  the  covenant,  and  to  present 
their  children  for  baptism.  In  the  time  of  Cotton 
Mather,  any  one  who  was  free  from  scandalous 
sins,  and  from  open  impiety,  could  be  baptized.-^ 
"  Owning  the  Covenant "  was  at  first  a  very 
solemn  profession  of  a  purpose  to  lead  a  Christian 
life.  Before  the  close  of  the  century,  however, 
owning  the  covenant,  and  presenting  the  children 
for  baptism,  had  become  mere  forms,  which  were 
supposed  to  have  a  certain  efficacy  of  their  own. 
In  fact,  the  rites  and  sacraments  of  the  Puritan 
churches  came  to  be  regarded  in  the  earlier  years 
of  the  eighteenth  century  as  means  of  salvation. 
So  the  grand-children  of  the  early  Puritans  ap- 
proached very  nearly  the  practices  which  their  fore- 
fathers had  condemned  in  the  Church  of  England. 

As  the  seventeenth  century  closed,  there  was 
a  low  type  of  piety  in  the  churches.  With  this 
came,    on    the    one     side,    a    hardening    of    the 

^  Mather's  Ratio  Disciplince,  So. 


RELIGIOUS  OPINIONS  OF  THE  PURITAN  FATHERS.        313 

doctrines  which  were  preached  in  the  pulpits, 
and  on  the  other  side,  a  departure  from  those 
doctrines,  and  the  adoption  of  what  was  then 
called  Arminianism.  The  necessity  of  a  work 
of  the  Spirit  to  renew  and  sanctify  the  heart  was 
no  longer  insisted  on.  Revivals  of  religion  w^ere 
few.  There  was  a  tendency  to  preach  morality, 
instead  of  to  insist  upon  a  really  spiritual  experi- 
ence. The  venerable  Stoddard  of  Northampton 
published  a  sermon,  in  1707,  in  which  he  main- 
tained that  "the  Lord's  Supper  is  a  convert- 
ing ordinance,  and  that  sanctification  is  not  a 
necessary  qualification  to  partaking  of  the  Lord's 
Supper."^  These  views  were  accepted  in  many 
churches.  Discipline  was  much  neglected,  and 
immorality  was  tolerated.  The  difference  be- 
tween the  Church  and  the  world  was  fast  pass- 
ing away.  It  was  not  until  the  Great  Awaken- 
ing, in  the  time  of  Edwards,  and  of  Whitefield, 
that  the  churches  came  back  to  the  earlier  views 
in  regard  to  the  qualifications  for  membership  in 
the  Church.  There  w^ere  a  number  of  churches 
that  refused  to  hear  Whitefield,  or  to  enter  into 
the  new  religious  movement.  These  churches 
held  to  a  dry  and  lifeless  orthodoxy,  and  placed 
great  reliance  upon  forms  and  religious  rites. 
New  England  Unitarianism,  which  was  developed 
toward  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and 

^  The  Great  Awakening,  Joseph  Tracy,  4. 


314      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND.  \ 

the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth,  was  the  result  of  ; 
a  departure  from  the  older  religious  views,  w^hich  \ 
began  in  the  times  of  the  Half-Way  Covenant.  , 
The  preaching  which  led  to  the  great  revival  j 
gave  special  emphasis  to  the  work  of  the  Holy  i 
Spirit  in  the  change  which  is  called  conversion.  I 
It    led    to    a   sharp    discrimination    between    the  \ 
Church    and   the   world.       The  Half-Way  Cove-  , 
nant  was  gradually  laid  aside,  and  with  it  the  the-  ; 
ory  of  hereditary  Church  membership.     The  new  i 
method  of  stating  the  doctrines  of  grace,  which  j 
was   set   forth  by    President   Edwards,    led  to   a 
new  style  of  preaching,   which  gave  prominence 
to  the  freedom  and  responsibility  of  man.     This 
method   of  preaching  prepared  the  way  for  the  ' 
great  revivals  of  religion  which  marked  the  close  ; 
of  the  last  century  and  the  earlier  years  of  the  ! 
present    century.       From    those     revivals    have  ; 
sprung  the  great  missionary  movements  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  and  the  new  and  more  enter- 
prising spirit  in  the  churches  of  all  denominations,  I 
in  our  times.^  ■ 

I 

The  discussion  of  the  influence  of  the  Synod  : 

of  1662  has  led  us  far  beyond  the  period  to  which  j 

1  Edwards'  Qualifications  for  Full  Communion.     Mather's  Mag-  ^ 

nalia,   vol.    ii.   279.     V^alker's    Creeds    and    Platforms,    280-290.  ; 

Tracy's  Great  Awakening,  1-40.  ] 


RELIGIOUS  OPINIONS  OF  THE  PURITAN  FATHERS.       315 

that  Synod  belonged.  But  there  was  another 
Synod  which  had  an  influence  upon  the  rehgious 
views  of  the  fathers  of  New  England,  which  should 
have  a  place  in  this  section. 

This  was  the  Reforming  Synod  of  1679, 
which  met  in  Boston,  September  loth,  of  that 
year,  at  the  call  of  the  General  Court.  It  was 
made  up  of  the  Elders  and  Messengers  of  the 
churches  of  the  Colony.  It  was  called  to  con- 
sider two  questions :  first,  "  What  are  the  evils 
that  have  provoked  the  Lord  to  bring  His 
judgments  upon  New  England?  second,  What 
is  to  be  done  that  so  these  evils  may  be  re- 
formed }  "  The  people  had  been  suffering  from 
the  great  Indian  wars,  and  from  extensive  con- 
flagrations, from  shipwrecks,  and  from  the  pesti- 
lence. They  believed  that  these  disasters  had 
come  in  God's  providence,  in  consequence  of 
their  sins;  and  they  set  themselves  to  inquire, 
with  fasting  and  prayer,  for  the  causes  of  these 
great  disasters.  After  mature  deliberation  the 
Synod  prepared  a  statement  of  the  The  Reforming 
evils  that  were  common  in  the  Colony,  synod  of  1679. 
and  presented  it  to  the  General  Court.  This 
careful  official  document  is  preserved  in  Mather's 
Magnalia,  and  in  other  works;  and  it  casts  a 
flood  of  light  upon  the  religious  condition  of 
Massachusetts  at  the  end  of  the  first  half-century. 
I    quote    only   the   leading   statements,    each    of 


3l6       THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

which  is  supported,   in  the  original  paper,  by  a 
number  of  particulars.     They  say  :  ^  "  There  has 
been  a  great  and  visible  decay  of  the  power  of 
Godliness   amongst    many    Professors    in    these 
churches :  communion  with  God,  in  His  ways  of 
worship,  especially  in  secret,  is  much  neglected  ; " 
the    sins    of    "  pride,"    "  of     contention,"    and    of 
"extravagance,"     abound;     "servants     and     the 
poorer  sort  of  people  are  guilty  in  this  matter," 
they    "  goe    above    their   estates    and    degrees ; " 
"church    fellowship    is    greatly    neglected;    the 
risine  sfeneration  are  not  mindful  of  that  which 
their  Baptism  doth  engage  them  unto;"    "Pro- 
fanity abounds ;  "  "  there    is  much  irreverent  be- 
havior in  the  solemn  worship  of  God."     There  is 
also,  "  much  Sabbath  breaking  ;  "   "  traveling  on 
the  Lord's  day  is    common."     "  Family  worship 
is    much    neglected ;  "    "  the    Scriptures    are    not 
daily  read,  that  so  the  word  of  Christ  might  dwell 
richly   with    them."       "  Law-suits    are    common, 
brother  o-oino;  to  law  with    brother."     "  There  is 
much  intemperance.     That  shameful  iniquity  of 
sinful!  drinking  is  become  too  general  a  Provo- 
cation,   Dayes    of    Training,    and    other   publick 
Solemnityes  have  been  much  abused  in  this  re- 
spect."    "  Indians  have  been  debauched,  by  those 
who  call    themselves    Christians,    who   have    put 

1  Mather's  Magnalia,  Hartford  ed.  1820,  vol.  ii.  273.     Williston 
Walker's  Creeds  and  Platforms,  426-436. 


RELIGIOUS  OPINIONS   OP  THE  PURITAN  FATHERS.        317 

their  bottles  to  them  and  made  them  drunk 
also."  "  Instead  of  converting  the  Heathen " 
these  people  have  "  taught  them  wickedness 
which  before  they  were  not  guilty  of."  "  Church 
members  frequent  publick  Houses,"  and  "  there 
misspend  precious  time,  unto  the  dishonor  of  the 
Gospel."  "  These  are  hainous  breaches  of  the 
Seventh  Commandment.  Temptations  thereto 
are  become  too  common."  There  is  "  unlawful 
gaming,"  "and  an  abundance  of  Idleness,"  there 
are  "  mixed  Dancings  ;  "  "  immodest  apparel  is 
put  on; "  "  there  is  a  want  of  truth  amongst  men : 
promise  breaking  is  a  common  sin,  for  which 
New  England  doth  stand  ill  abroad  in  the  world." 
There  is  also  an  "  Inordinate  affection  to  the 
world."  "  Farms  and  merchandisings  have  been 
preferred  before  the  things  of  God."  "  Religion 
is  made  subordinate  unto  worldly  interests." 
"  Some  traders  sell  their  goods  at  excessive  Rates." 
Men  are  "  under  the  prevailing  power  of  a 
worldly  spirit."  "  There  hath  been  much  op- 
position to  the  work  of  Reformation."  "  Sin  and 
sinners  have  many  Advocates."  "  A  public 
spirit  is  greatly  wanting  in  the  most  of  men." 
"  All  seek  their  own ;  not  the  things  of  Jesus 
Christ."  "  Hence,  schools  of  learning,  and  other 
publick  concerns  are  in  a  languishing  state," 
"  Christ  is  not  prized  and  embraced  in  all  his 
offices  and  ordinances  as  ought  to  be."     Last  of 


31  8       THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


all,    "  there    is    great    unfruitfulness    under    the 
means  of  grace." 

After  these  statements  of  the  sins  which  were 
most  common  in  New  England  at  that  time, 
the  Synod  made  an  earnest  appeal  to  the  good 
people  to  seek  to  bring  about  a  reformation. 
They  urged  those  in  official  positions,  first  of  all 
to  take  the  lead  in  a  reform  of  manners.  They 
advised  that  none  be  admitted  to  the  "  Lord's 
Supper  without  making  a  personal  and  publick 
profession  of  their  Faith  and  Repentance,  either 
orally,  or  in  some  other  way,  —  to  the  satisfaction 
of  the  Church."  They  also  urged  the  duty  of 
attending  to  discipline  in  the  churches  ;  of  seek- 
ing to  "  provide  a  full  supply  of  officers  in  the 
churches;"  of  providing  "for  the  maintenance 
of  ministers ; "  of  "  due  care  and  faithfulness  with 
respect  unto  the  establishment  and  execution  of 
wholesome  laws ;  especially  laws  to  regulate 
Publick  Houses,  —  to  regulate  the  sale  of  strong 
drink  ;  and  to  punish  vice  and  crime." 

They  also  recommended  solemn  and  explicit 
renewal  of  the  Covenant  in  the  churches,  the 
confession  of  sin,  and  a  turning  unto  the  ways  of 
the  Lord.  The  people  should  "  cry  mightily  unto 
God,  that  He  would  be  pleased  to  rain  down 
Righteousness "  upon  them. 

This  appeal  of  the  Synod  was  heartily  seconded 
by  the  General  Court.     The  laws  against  intem- 


RELIGIOUS  OPINIONS  OP    THE  PURITAN  FATHERS.       319 

perance,  and  Sabbath  breaking,  and  various  forms 
of  vice  were  more  strictly  enforced.  The  churches 
entered  into  the  work  of  reformation  with  o:reat 
earnestness.  Days  of  fasting  and  prayer  were 
appointed ;  there  was  a  solemn  renewing  of  the 
covenant  in  many  places ;  the  ministers  preached 
frequently,  not  only  on  the  Lord's-days,  but  on 
w^eek  days ;  and,  Cotton  Mather  tells  us  :  "  Many 
thousands  will  testifie  that  they  never  saw  the 
special  presence  of  God  more  notably  discovered, 
than  in  the  solemnities  of  those  opportunities."  ^ 


XI. 

The  same  Synod  met  again,  by  adjournment. 
May  12,  1680,  to  propose  a  Confession  of  Faith. 
The  Boston  Synod    of    1648    had    ex-  ,^    .     ^  ^ 

■^  ^  ,         Adoption  of  the 

pressed  a  hearty  assent  to  the  Westmin-  savoy  confes- 
ster  Confession,  "  for  the  substance 
thereof."  But  the  Congregationalists  of  England 
determined  to  have  a  Confession  of  their  own. 
Accordingly,  a  council,  or  Synod,  met  at  the 
Savoy,  in  London,  September  29,  1658,  composed 
of  representatives  of  one  hundred  and  twenty 
churches.  The  number  of  members  was  about 
two  hundred.  The  session  lasted  two  weeks. 
The  Synod  amended  the  Confession  of  the  West- 
minster Assembly  in  a  number  of  respects,  with- 

1  Cotton  Mather,  Magnalia,  vol.  ii.  283,  edition  of  1820. 


320       THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

out  changing,  however,  its  strong  Calvinistic  state- 
ments; and  then  adopted  the  amended  Confession 
unanimously,  October  12,  1658.  The  phraseology 
was  improved  in  a  number  of  sections.  A  new 
chapter  was  added  concerning  "  the  Gospel,  and 
the  extent  of  the  Grace  thereof,"  which  is  intensely 
Calvinistic.  In  chapter  twenty-four,  they  asserted 
the  principle  of  toleration  in  minor  matters,  for 
those  who  do  not  disturb  others  in  their  way  of 
worship.  They  omitted  such  parts  of  the  older 
Confession  as  set  forth  the  Presbyterian  form  of 
Church  government;  and  they  added  thirty  sec- 
tions relating  to  Church  order,  according  to  the 
Congregational  way. 

When  the  Boston  Synod  came  together,  in  1680, 
for  its  second  session,  it  proceeded  at  once  to  act 
upon  the  report  of  a  committee,  chosen  at  its  first 
session,  to  draw  up  a  Confession  of  Faith.  This 
committee  recommended  the  adoption  of  the 
Savoy  Confession,  with  slight  and  unimportant 
amendments.  The  Synod  went  carefully  through 
the  Confession,  adopted  the  amendments  proposed, 
and  then  adopted  the  Confession.  The  General 
Court,  the  next  month,  approved  of  this  action  of 
the  Synod,  and  ordered  that  the  Confession,  with 
the  Platform  of  1648,  "be  printed  for  the  benefit 
of  these  churches  in  present,  and  after  times."  ^ 
This  Confession  continued  to  be  the  standard  of 
1  Mass.  Records,  vol.  v.  287. 


RELIGIOUS  OPINIONS  OP  THE  PURITAN  PATHERS.       32  I 

the  Congregational  churches  for  ahnost  two  hun- 
dred years.  The  National  Council  of  1865  — 
which  represented  not  merely  the  churches  of 
the  Colony  of  Massachusetts,  but  the  Congrega- 
tional churches  of  the  United  States  —  declared 
that  it  embodied  substantially  the  faith  of  those 
churches.^  There  have  been  a  number  of  periods 
since  1680,  when  the  Congregational  churches 
have  taken  up  certain  improvements  upon  the 
older  statements  of  Calvinism,  and  the  New  Eng- 
land theology  of  to-day  is  much  broader  than  that 
of  the  older  Confessions;  and  yet,  the  Savoy 
Confession  is  the  only  extended  and  elaborate 
Confession  of  Faith  which  they  have  ever  adopted. 
The  Connecticut  Synod,  which  met  at  Saybrook, 
September  9,  1708,  also  adopted  the  Savoy  Con- 
fession, at  the  same  time  that  they  adopted  the 
Saybrook  Platform. 


XII. 

In  closing  this  statement  of  the  religious  opin- 
ions of  the  fathers  of  New  England,  it  is  impor- 
tant to  point  out  the  influence  of  this  system  of 
religious  teaching  upon  the  people. 

These  doctrines  of  the  older  Calvinism  were 
practically  the  only  doctrines  that  were  preached 
in  New  England  for   about    a    hundred    years. 

1  National  Congregational  Council,  1865,  361. 


322       THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

They  had  full  sway  among  a  people  who  were 
isolated  from  the  great  currents  of  thought  in  the 
larger  world.  In  the  results  of  that  teaching,  we 
Results  of  the  havc  an  indication  of  what  that  type 
tteoi^^°^  of  theology  is  likely  to  effect.  In 
caivimsm.  no  Other  part  of  the  world,  except  pos- 
sibly in  Scotland,  has  High  Calvinism  been  given 
so  clear  a  field  in  which  to  develop  its  full 
influence. 

It  should  be  said,  in  the  first  place,  that  the 
religious  teachings  of  the  early  preachers  of  New 
England  did  develop  a  remarkable  type  of  reli- 
gious character.  We  have  abundant  evidence  to 
show  what  that  type  was.  There  was  a  high 
ethical  standard,  for  one  thing.  The  religious 
men  of  that  time  were  honest  men.  Their  lives 
were  pure.  They  brought  up  their  children  to 
fear  God,  and  keep  His  commandments.  They 
were  also  devout  men.  They  magnified,  above 
all  other  things,  their  personal  relations  with  a 
personal  God,  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
They  believed  that  they  were  the  elect  of  God, — 
the  objects  of  His  peculiar  care,  and  destined  to 
an  eternal  inheritance  in  heaven.  So  they  lived 
as  pilgrims  and  strangers  on  the  earth.  Their 
lives  were  directed  by  the  Providence  of  God,  and 
they  were  working  out  His  great  plans.  No  other 
people  have  had  more  reverence  for  the  Bible,  or 
the  Sabbath,  or  the  Church,  with  its  ordinances. 


RELIGIOUS  OPINIONS  OF  THE  PURITAN  FATHERS.        323 

They  were  guided  by  the  highest  motives.  They 
had  the  world  under  their  feet.  Their  training 
made  them  good  soldiers  of  Jesus  Christ.  They 
had  the  spirit  of  the  Scottish  Covenanters. 

Their  theological  views  tended  to  make  them 
the  defenders  of  liberty.  They  laid  the  founda- 
tions of  the  Republic.  Their  churches  were 
democratic.       So    were    their     towns. 

o  i.1         r-    1        •  r  ,1         Results  of  the 

bo  were  the  Colonies,  as  far  as  the  caivinistic 
people  were  permitted  to  frame  their  ^*'^^^* 
government.  And  when  George  the  Third,  far  on 
in  the  eighteenth  century,  attempted  to  deprive 
the  English  Colonists  of  their  rights  as  English- 
men, the  descendants  of  these  Caivinistic  Puritans 
took  the  lead  in  the  Revolution  which  made  us  a 
free  nation. 

Our  fathers,  also,  transmitted  to  their  descen- 
dants a  vigorous  type  of  manhood,  and  that  t3^pe 
has  been  perpetuated,  among  the  widely  scattered 
sons  of  the  Puritans,  for  two  centuries  and  a  half. 
They  have  been  men  of  convictions,  —  with  the 
couraQ:e  of  their  convictions,  —  the  defenders  of 
liberty,  and  the  champions  of  the  oppressed.  It 
is  not  too  much  to  claim  that  this  Caivinistic 
training  —  like  iron  in  the  blood — gave  tone 
and  quality  to  the  New  England  character. 


324      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND, 


XIII. 

So  much  may  be  justly  claimed  for  the  results 
of  the  religious  training  in  the  early  times  in 
New  England.  But  there  were  other  results  of 
that  training  which  were  not  so  desirable.  That 
which  religion  gained  in  intensity  in  those  times, 
it  lost  in  extension.  The  religious  teaching  and 
discipline,  which  made  a  small  number  eminent 
in  piety,  left  the  largest  part  of  the  people  outside 
the  churches.  The  first  generation  of  Colonists 
were  a  selected  class.  God  had  sifted  them  out 
from  the  mass  of  their  countrymen,  that  they 
mio-ht  be  the  seed  for  a  new  Christian  nation. 
They  were  men  of  eminent  piety.  They  were 
devout  men.  They  walked  humbly  before  God. 
smau  Number  RcHgious  ideas  and  religious  motives 
1"?^'^^  guided  their  plans  of  life.  But  it  was 
Churches.  ^ot  SO  with  the  sccoud  generation. 
The  majority  of  the  sons  of  the  Puritans  never 
became  communicants  in  their  churches.  Lech- 
ford  says,  that  at  the  time  of  his  visit,  in  1641, 
only  a  quarter  of  the  people  were  members  of  the 
churches.-^  As  none  could  become  voters  in  the 
Colony  of  Massachusetts  who  were  not  communi- 
cants, it  was  a  subject  of  complaint,  at  all  periods 
of  its  history,  that  only  a  minority  of  the  male 

1  Lechford's  Plain  Dealing,  59. 


RELIGIOUS  OPINIONS  OP  THE  PURITAN  FATHERS,        325 

adults  could  have  any  share  in  the  government. 
Mr.  Palfrey  states,  as  the  result  of  careful  in- 
vestigation, that,  in  1670,  the  number  of  freemen 
in  Massachusetts  was  between  ten  and  twelve 
hundred.  That  was  equal  to  a  quarter  or  a  fifth 
part  of  the  adult  males  in  the  Colony.^  It  is  true 
that  some  male  members  of  the  churches  did  not 
become  freemen;  but  the  number  of  such  was 
never  large.  So  that  it  appears  to  be  true  that 
only  about  a  quarter  of  the  grown  men  in  the 
Colony  were  communicants  in  the  churches. 
This  fact  was  frequently  referred  to  in  the 
political  discussions  of  those  times.  This  large 
number  of   disfranchised  people  com- 

^    '        ■{       r    .-,        '    '        .  1  ,  Small  Number 

plained  01  the  injustice  that  was  done  of  Members  in 
them.  From  time  to  time  concessions 
were  made  to  their  demands.^  These  facts  show 
very  plainly  that  a  large  proportion  of  grown 
people  were  outside  the  churches.  These  non- 
communicants  were  the  children  of  the  Puritans. 
Very  few  came  into  the  Colony  from  Europe 
after  1642.  These  were  the  very  persons  who, 
under  favorable  conditions,  would  have  been  most 
likely  to  come  into  the  churches.  Why  was  it 
that  the  children  of  the  Puritans  were  not  pre- 
pared to  become  members  of  the  churches } 
There  was  something  pathetic  in  the  complaints 

^  Palfrey's  New  England,  vol.  iii.  41  ;  vol.  ii.  8,  note. 
2  Pages  168-170  of  this  volume. 


326      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

which  the  fathers  were  continually  making  of  "  the 
great  unfruitfulness  under  the  means  of  grace." 
We  have  seen  that  it  was  the  consciousness  of 
this  "unfruitfulness"  that  led  to  the  Half-Way 
Covenant.  They  hoped  to  prepare  their  sons 
and  daughters  for  "full  communion,"  by  admit- 
ting them  to  some  of  the  privileges  of  the  Church. 
But  this  expedient  failed.  Those  who  came  into 
the  churches  were  not  benefited,  unless  there  had 
been  a  work  of  God's  Spirit  in  their  souls. 

If  we  compare  the  "  fruitf ulness  under  the 
means  of  grace,"  in  the  first  century  of  our  his- 
tory, with  that  in  the  present  century,  we  shall 
find  that  we  have  at  present  one  in  five  of  the 
people  of  the  United  States,  a  communicant  in 
some  one  of  the  Protestant  churches.  This  is, 
not  one  in  five  of  the  adults,  but  one  in  five  of 
all  who  are  counted  when  the  census  is  taken; 
persons  of  all  ages,  from  infancy  upwards,  in- 
cluding a  great  many  millions  of  people  of 
foreign  birth  and  training,  and  with  alien  lan- 
guages. But  the  Puritans  had  a  population  of 
pure  English  blood,  and  of  Puritan  training. 

XIV. 

Another  very  significant  fact  relating  to  the 
Puritan  churches  in  the  first  century  is  this : 
they  did  not  succeed  in  maintaining  a  vigorous 


RELIGIOUS   OPINIONS  OP   THE  PURITAN  FATHERS.       327 

spiritual  life  among  Christians.  There  were 
times  when  the  religious  spirit  rose  very  high. 
But  there  were  also  times  of  long-continued 
declension,  when  it  seemed  to  good  men  that 
"  the  glory  was  departing  from  New  England." 
The  election  sermons  preached  in  Reugious 
Massachusetts  in  1668,  1669,  and  1670,  thePuritan^ 
all  speak  of  such  a  declension  at  the  churches, 
time  of  the  Reforming  Synod.^  The  statement 
of  Thomas  Prince  is  that  "  a  little  after  1660  there 
began  to  appear  a  Decay :  And  this  increased  to 
1670,  when  it  grew  very  visible  and  threatening, 
and  was  generally  complained  of  and  bewailed 
bitterly  by  the  Pious  among  them :  And  yet 
much  more  to  1680,  when  but  few  of  the  first 
generation  remained."^  These  statements  are 
confirmed  by  the  Result  of  the  Synod  of  1679. 
The  earnest  relisfious  services  which  followed  the 
Reforming  Synod  were  of  use  in  checking  the 
downward  tendency,  and  yet,  the  religious  life  in 
New  England  between  1680  and  1735  was  very 
far  below  the  expectations  of  the  fathers.  Revivals 
of  religion  were  few.  Dissensions  arose  in  the 
churches  which  led,  in  some  instances,  to  divi- 
sions. The  fanaticism  and  cruelty  whirh  attended 
the  proceedings  relating  to  witchcraft  were  partly 

^  Election  Sermons,  by  Mr.  Stoughton,  1668,  Mr.  Thomas  Wal- 
ley,  1669,  Mr.  Samuel  Danforth,  1670. 

^  Christian  History  of  New  England,  vol.  i.  94,  Boston,  1743. 


328      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND, 

the  result  of  the  decay  in  the  religious  life  of 
New  England.  There  was  a  movement,  toward 
the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  in  Massachusetts, 
to  strengthen  the  system  of  Church  government, 
in  the  hope  that  by  this  means  the  churches  might 
be  protected  from  false  doctrines,  and  prepared  to 
enforce  Church  discipline.  This  movement,  which 
failed  in  Massachusetts,  was  successful  in  Con- 
necticut, and  led  to  the  adoption  of  the  Saybrook 
Platform  in  170S. 

Still  the  process  of  declension  went  on.  The 
statements  which  are  made  in  the  works  of  Presi- 
dent Edwards,  and  in  the  journals  of  Mr.  White- 
field,  and  the  writings  of  others  who  had  a  leading 
part  in  the  Great  Awakening  show  that  the  con- 
dition of  the  churches  was  even  worse  than  it  had 
been  at  the  time  of  the  Reforming  Synod.^ 

It  appears  further,  from  the  writings  of  the 
younger  Edwards,  that  the  High  Calvinism  which 
was  preached  here  so  long,  finally  lost  its  hold 
upon  the  people,  in  consequence  of  the  spread 
of  what  was  called  in  those  times  Arminianism. 
There  is  abundant  evidence  that  during  the  first 
third  of  the  eighteenth  century,  a  large  number  of 
the  pastors  became  Arminians.  Dr.  Edwards 
says,  "  The  Calvinists  were  nearly  driven  out  of 
the  field  by  the  Arminians,  Pelagians,  and  Socin- 

^  Dwight's  Life  of  Edwards,  vol.  i.  120.  Journals  of  Whitefield. 
Life  and  Times  of  Whitefield.     Tracy's  Great  Awakening. 


RELIGIOUS  OPINIONS  OF  THE  PURITAN  FATHERS.       329 

ians.  The  Calvinists  appealed  to  Scripture,"  he 
adds,  "  in  support  of  their  peculiar  tenets,  but  the 
sense  in  which  they  interpreted  the  sacred  writ- 
ings was  inconsistent  with  human  liberty,  moral 
agency,  accountableness,  praise,  and  blame.  It 
was  inconsistent  with  all  command  and 

Testimony  of 

exhortation,  with  all  reward  and  punish-    the  Younger 
ment.    The  Calvinists  themselves  beean       ^^  ^* 
to  be  ashamed  of  their  own  cause,  and  to  give  it 
up,  so  far  at  least,  as   it  relates  to  liberty  and 
necessity."  ^ 

"  But  Mr.  Edwards,"  he  continues,  "  put  an  end 
to  this  seeming  triumph  of  theirs."  He  points 
out  the  "  Improvements  in  Theology  "  which  his 
father  had  introduced,  such  as  "  the  difference 
between  natural  and  moral  necessity,  and  inabil- 
ity ;  "  the  nature  of  true  holiness ;  the  origin  of 
evil ;  the  doctrine  of  Atonement ;  of  imputation  ; 
and  of  regeneration.  President  Edwards  "proved 
that  the  Atonement  does  not  consist  in  the  pay- 
ment of  a  debt,"  but  that  the  suffering  of  Christ 
establishes  "  the  authority  of  the  divine  law,"  and 
"  supports  the  divine  government,"  so  that  "  God 
without  the  prostration  of  His  authority  and 
government  can  pardon  and  save  those  who 
believe." 

1  Works  of  Dr.  Jonathan  Edwards,  vol.  i.  480-481.  See  also  the 
statements  in  The  Case  of  Robert  Breck  in  this  volume,  335-360. 


330      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


XV. 

It  is  quite  possible  that  some  of  these  strong 
statements  need  to  be  modified.  The  estimate 
of  the  older  theology  which  Dr.  Edwards  sets 
forth  was  doubtless  influenced  by  his  own  decided 
leanings  toward  the  new  divinity  which  the  elder 
Edwards  had  done  so  much  to  recommend.  But 
after  making  all  necessary  allowances  for  the  per- 
sonal element  in  his  statements,  the  evidence  is 
TheNewEng-  conclusivc  that  the  extreme  High  Cal- 
land Theology,  yj^ism  of  the  earlier  Puritan  divines 
had  proved  insufBcient  to  meet  the  needs  of  the 
later  generations  of  New  England  people,  and 
that,  too,  under  the  most  favorable  conditions  of 
which  we  can  readily  conceive.  It  failed  to  do 
justice  to  the  great  truths  concerning  the  Love  of 
God,  in  the  Work  of  Redemption,  and  in  the  free 
offers  of  salvation.  It  also  failed  to  present  the 
claims  of  God  so  as  to  develop  the  sense  of  re- 
sponsibility, which  commends  the  call  of  God  to 
every  man's  conscience. 

The  elder  Edwards  —  our  greatest  theologian 
thus  far  —  was  enabled  to  relieve  that  system  of 
some  of  its  difficulties,  so  as  to  give  to  Consistent 
Calvinism  a  new  lease  of  life.  Out  of  these  Im- 
provements in  Theology  there  grew  a  new 
method  of  preaching.    The  great  revivals  of  1730 


RELIGIOUS  OPINIONS  OP  THE  PURITAN  FATHERS.,      33 1 

to  1750  were  the  results  of  this  new  method  of 
presenting  the  truth  to  men.  Since  the  Edward- 
ean  period,  there  has  been  in  the  Puritan  churches 
of  New  England  a  modified  Calvinism,  which  has 
been  called  the  New  England  Theology.  The 
successors  of  Edwards  —  Hopkins,  Smalley,  the 
younger  Edwards,  Emmons,  and  the  others  — 
have  follow^ed  out  his  principles  along  two  diver- 
gent lines.  So  that,  whatever  else  may  be  said  of 
those  theological  views  which  have  prevailed  in 
New  England  for  the  last  century  and  a  half,  it 
cannot  be  said  that  they  have  been  entirely  bor- 
rowed from  others,  or  that  they  have  been  received 
without  original  and  thorough  examination.  It 
is  safe  to  predict  that  the  theology  of  the  future, 
among  the  Puritan  churches  of  New  England, 
will  be  developed  along  the  lines  which  were 
marked  out  by  President  Edwards. 


VII. 


The  Case  of  Reverend  Robert  Break, 
of  Springfield. 


The  Case  of  Reverend  Robert  Break, 
of  Springfield. 

THE  beginning  of  the  second  century  in  the 
New  England  Colonies  was  a  period  of 
transition.  Many  of  the  best  influences  of  the 
earlier  period  were  still  vigorous.  The  country 
had  lost  the  appearance  of  a  newly  settled  region. 
The  population  was  already  numerous ;  the  people 
were  livins:  in  comfortable  houses;  their  farms 
were  well-cultivated  and  productive.  The  people 
had  lost  something  of  the  provincial  character. 
They  were  already  open  to  the  influences  from  the 
larger  world  beyond  the  sea.  Some  of  the  cus- 
toms of  the  earlier  years  had  been  The  Period  of 
dropped.  The  meeting-houses  were  Transition, 
larorer  and  more  comfortable.  There  had  been  a 
great  improvement  in  the  style  of  sacred  music. 
There  were  choirs  in  many  of  the  churches.  The 
practice  of  reading  the  Scriptures  without  an  ex- 
position had  become  common.  Marriages  and 
funerals  were  conducted  by  the  ministers  much 
as  they  are  now. 


336      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND   NEW  ENGLAND. 


The  Half-Way  Covenant  had  brought  many 
changes  into  the  churches.  Those  who  desired 
to  become  communicants  were  not  scrutinized  as 
closely  as  they  had  been  in  the  earlier  times. 
Yale  College  had  been  founded  ;  and  it  was  already 
an  important  institution  of  learning  in  the  new 
country.  The  churches  of  Connecticut  had 
adopted  the  stronger  polity  of  the  Saybrook  Plat- 
form. They  were  more  conservative  than  those 
of  Massachusetts.  There  had  been  a  departure, 
more  or  less  general,  from  the  older  theology. 
There  was  a  conservative  wing,  and  a  liberal  wing, 
among:  the  ministers.  The  term  Arminian  was 
applied,  as  a  term  of  reproach,  to  those  who  were 
beginning  to  question  the  views  of  the  older  Cal- 
vinists. 

The  best  way  to  study  this  period  is  to  investi- 
gate some  one  of  the  controversies  of  the  time, 
important  enough  to  have  connections  with  a 
large  number  of  people,  from  different  localities, 
and  of  different  callings  in  life.  Such  a  contro- 
versy was  the  one  which  arose  in  Springfield, 
Massachusetts,  in  1734,  and  continued  for  two 
years,  in  respect  to  the  settlement  of  Robert  Breck 
as  pastor  of  the  church  in  that  town ;  an  event 
which  had  a  certain  importance,  in  its  time,  for 
the  people  of  Springfield,  but  which  interests  us 
mainly  on  account  of  the  light  it  casts  upon  the 
way  of  life  of  the  people  a  century  and  a  half  ago. 


THE  CASE  OP  REV.  ROBERT  BRECK.  337 


I. 

The  town  of  Springfield  was  then  one  hundred 
years  old.  There  were  about  a  thousand  people 
living  within  the  present  limits  of  that  The  Town  of 
city.^  Mr.  Breck  was  the  fourth  pastor  springfiew. 
of  the  church.  The  average  length  of  the  pasto- 
rate had  been  thirty  years.  The  number  of 
members  of  the  church  was  sixty-seven.  The 
valley  of  the  Connecticut  was  already  full  of 
thrivinsf  towns  and  villaQ-es.     We  read 

^  ^   .  Prosperity  of 

in  the  pamphlets  of  that  time  of  Long-  the  Connecticut 

V3JJ.6V 

meadow,  and  Westfield,  and  Hadley, 
Northampton,  Hatfield,  and  Deerfield,  among 
other  places  in  the  vicinity.  The  Hampshire 
Association  of  Ministers  was  a  vigorous  organiza- 
tion, made  up  of  thirteen  pastors,  among  whom 
were  Jonathan  Edwards,  of  Northampton,  Isaac 
Chauncy,  of  Hadley,  William  Williams,  of  Hat- 
field, Stephen  Williams,  of  Longmeadow,  Samuel 
Hopkins,  of  West  Springfield,  and  Ebenezer 
Devotion,  of  Suffield.  This  Association,  though 
organized  for  the  mutual  improvement  of  its 
members,  like  similar  bodies  in  our  own  time,  was 
accused  of  seeking  to  control  the  action  of  the 
churches  in  the  selection  of  their  pastors.  It  was 
alleged  that  some  of  these  pastors  were  Presby- 

1  Judge  Morris'  Historical  Address. 
22 


338      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


terians,  and  that  they  took  it  for  granted  that  an 
Association  had  powers  like  those  of  a  Presbytery. 
Their  theological  views  were,  for  the  most  part, 
those  of  the  earlier  Puritans,  which  are  moderately 
stated  in  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith. 
It  was  before  the  time  of  the  "  Improvements  in 
theology  "  set  forth  by  President  Edwards.  But 
even  then,  as  we  shall  see,  there  was  a  difference 
in  theological  opinion  among  the  pastors,  and  a 
still  greater  difference  in  their  views  of  Christian 
liberty.  For  the  most  part  they  were  devoted  to 
their  religious  work.  The  years  1734  and  1735 
were  the  years  of  the  Great  Awakening  at  North- 
ampton ;  and  Mr.  Edwards  was  too  fully  absorbed 
in  his  work  at  home  to  enter  very  fully  into  the 
affairs  of  the  church  in  Springfield. 

II. 

The  ministers  and  churches  of  Massachusetts 
at  that  time  were  profoundly  affected  by  the  con- 
churchand  ncction  of  the  Church  with  the  state, 
state.  The  laws  of  the  Colony  of  Massachu- 

setts Bay  had  limited  even  the  right  of  suffrage  to 
members  of  the  church.  The  charter  of  the  Prov- 
mce  of  Massachusetts,  which  was  granted  by 
William  and  Mary,  in  1 691,  extended  the  suffrage 
to  all  male  freeholders  who  possessed  an  estate 
worth  two  pounds  a  year.     This  provision  of  the 


THE  CASE  OP  REV.  EGBERT  BRECK.  339 

charter  opened  the  way  for  giving  to  those  who 
were  not  communicants  a  voice  in  the  selection 
of  their  ministers,  and  in  the  direction  of  the 
pecuniary  interests  of  the  parish.  All  this  tended 
to  liberalize  the  spirit  of  legislation.  The  General 
Court  of  the  Province  never  enacted  a  law  for  the 
punishment  of  heresy  by  fine  and  banishment, 
such  as  that  under  which  William  Pynchon  had 
been  summoned  to  appear  before  the  General 
Court,  in  1650,  to  answer  for  his  book  entitled 
"  The  Meritorious  Price  of  our  Redemption."-^ 

Still,  the  legislation  of  the  provincial  period  of 
our  history  was  designed  to  bring  the  Church 
under  the  fostering  care  and  protection  of  the 
state.  The  basis  of  this  legislation  was  a  law 
passed  in  1692,  at  the  second  session  of  the  Gen- 
eral Court,  under  the  provincial  charter,  for  the 
settlement  and  support  of  ministers.  ^  It  requires 
the  inhabitants  of  each  town  to  be  constantly 
provided  with  "  an  able,  learned,  and  orthodox 
minister,  or  ministers,  of  good  conversation,  to 
dispense  the  word  of  God  to  them."  The  minis- 
ter was  to  be  chosen  by  the  church,  "  according  to 
the  directions  given  in  the  Word  of  God."  The 
inhabitants  of  the  town  or  precinct  "  who  usually 
attend  on  the  public  worship  of  God,"  were  to  be 

^  See  page  203  of  this  volume. 

2  These  laws  may  be  found  in  the  Province  Laws,  vol.  i.  62, 102, 
216,  506,  597  ;  and  vol.  ii.  ^^  ;  vol.  iii.  288. 


340      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


called  together  to  accept  or  reject  the  candidate 
whom  the  church  had  chosen.     If  they  accepted 
him,  he  became  the  legal  minister  of  the  town  or 
precinct.     If  they  rejected  him,  the  church  might 
still  refer  the  matter  to  a  council  of  neighboring 
churches,  and  if  the  council  approved  the  choice 
of  the  church,  the  minister,  accepting  the  call,  ^ 
and  duly  installed,  became  the  legal  pastor,  and 
was  entitled  to  his  salary.     The  amount  both  of 
the  "  settlement "  and  of  the  "  maintenance  "  of 
the  minister  was  fixed  by  a  contract  before  his 
introduction   to  his   office  ;    and  the   people  were 
required  to  pay  toward  his  settlement  and  main- 
tenance,    "  each    man    his     several     proportion 
thereof."     The  Court  of  General  Sessions  of  the 
county  was  required  to  see  that  the  contract  was 
fulfilled.     If  any  town  or  precinct  should  neglect 
to  provide  itself  with  a  suitable  minister,  the  Court 
of  Quarter  Sessions  was  required  to  "  make  order 
upon  them  speedily  to  provide  themselves  with  a 
minister."     If  this  order  was  disregarded,  it  was 
the  duty  of  the   court  to    procure    and  settle    a 
minister,  and  order  the  charge  of  such  minister's 
settlement  and  maintenance  to  be  levied  on  the 
inhabitants  of  such  town.     At  a  later  time,  it  was 
made  the  duty  of   the    General    Court    itself,  on 

1  The  first  law  gave  the  choice  to  the  people  of  the  town.  This 
was  amended  at  the  next  session  so  as  to  give  the  church  the  right 
to  lead  in  the  choice. 


THE  CASE  OF  REV.  ROBERT  BRECK.  34 1 

receiving  notice  from  the  court  of  any  county  that 
a  town  or  precinct  was  destitute  of  a  minister,  to 
provide  and  send  to  every  such  town  or  precinct 
an  able,  learned,  and  orthodox  minister,  of  good 
conversation,  and  to  provide  for  his  support  by 
adding  to  the  taxes  of  such  town  or  precinct  so 
much  as  they  should  judge  sufficient  for  this  end. 

These  laws  assumed  a  definite  method  of  pro- 
cedure on  the  part  of  churches  and  congregations, 
such  as  is  marked  out  in  the  Cambridge  Platform. 
This  Platform  had  a  quasi-legal  authority,  having 
been  commended  to  the  churches  by  the  General 
Court,  and  it  was  constantly  appealed  to  as  the 
standard  in  the  discussions  of  those  days. 

Thus  the  churches  of  the  olden  time  were 
accustomed  to  depend  on  the  authority  of  the 
state  for  raising  the  money  to  support  public 
worship.  In  the  course  of  time,  they  learned  to 
follow  legal  forms  and  precedents,  and  to  transact 
much  of  their  most  important  business  in  a  legal 
spirit  and  environment.  There  would  sometimes 
be  a  doubt  whether  a  council  called  to  settle  a 
minister  had  been  legally  called,  and  whether  its 
proceedings  were  regular  and  valid  ;  whether  a 
minister  had  been  "  duly  settled  according  to  law ;  " 
whether  a  minister  was  "  orthodox,  able,  learned, 
and  of  good  conversation,"  within  the  meaning  of 
the  law  ;  and  whether  he  continued  to  possess  all 
these  excellent  qualities.     On  the  decision  of  these 


342      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

questions  would  depend  his  right  to  his  salary,  and 
also  the  right  of  the  town,  or  parish,  to  assess  a 
tax  for  his  support.  Sometimes  the  question 
would  be  raised  whether  a  town  which  was  sup- 
porting a  minister  had  such  a  minister  that  it  was 
not  liable  to  be  presented  by  the  grand  jury,  and 
prosecuted  as  a  destitute  town.  These  discussions 
and  litigations  were  among  the  most  characteristic 
things  relating  to  the  life  and  manners  of  our 
fathers. 

III. 

Robert  Breck,  of  Springfield,  was  the  son  of 
Rev.  Robert  Breck,  of  Marlboro',  of  whom  the 
"Boston  News-Letter"  said:  "He  was  an  able 
minister,  a  man  of  great  learning  in  the  original 
languages  of  the  Bible,  and  in  philosophy,  and 
also  a  man  of  great  courage  and  prudence."  His 
grandfather  was  Captain  John  Breck,  "a  very 
ingenious  and  worthy  man."  His  great-grand- 
father was  Edward  Breck,  a  man  of  wealth  and 
influence  in  England,  who  came  to  this  country 
in   1636,  and  settled  in  Dorchester. 

Robert  Breck  was  born  in  Marlboro',  Massa- 
chusetts, July  25,  1 713,  and  entered  Harvard 
Collesre  at  the  ao;e  of   thirteen.     His 

Robert  Breck.  ^  .       .      ,. 

rank  as  a  scholar  is  indicated  by  the 
fact  that  the  President  and  Fellows  awarded  to 
him   the   honorary  prize  of  thirty  pounds   as   a 


THE  CASE  OP  REV.  ROBERT  BRECK.  343 


"sober,  diligent,  and  promising  student,  and 
candidate  for  the  ministry."  He  was  graduated 
with  honor  in  1730.  It  has  been  stated  that 
he  studied  theology  with  his  father,  but  as  the 
father  died  the  year  after  his  son  was  graduated, 
it  is  probable  that  he  continued  his  studies 
without  an  instructor.  He  began  to  preach 
while  he  was  very  young,  according  to  the 
custom  of  those  times.  He  was  hardly  more 
than  twenty  when  we  find  him  preaching  in 
Scotland,  a  parish  in  Windham  County,  Con- 
necticut, and  at  various  other  places  in  that 
Colony.  The  young  and  untrained  preacher 
was  very  free  and  bold  in  his  utterances,  and 
very  early  subjected  himself  to  the  charge  of 
heresy,  a  charge  which  some  of  the  pastors  of  the 
vicinity  were  disposed  to  press  to  his  injury. 

Some  time  in  May,  1734,  the  First  Church  in 
Springfield  invited  him  to  preach  as  a  candidate 
for  settlement.  He  came,  and  preached  caued  to  settle 
to  the  acceptance  of  the  people,  so  that  ^^^astor. 
after  about  three  months  the  church  and  parish 
gave  him  a  call,  and  proposed  terms  of  setde- 
ment.  He  had  then  just  passed  his  twenty-first 
birthday. 

Soon  after  he  came  to  Springfield,  there  were 
reports  passing  from  one  to  another  that  he  was 
not  sound  in  the  faith.  The  people  listened  to 
his  sermons,  but  failed  to  detect  anything  that 


344      ^^^  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

savored  of  heresy.  So  far  as  the  pamphlets^ 
which  were  published  at  the  time,  on  both  sides, 
o-ive  us  information,  it  was  not  claimed  that  there 
was  anything  unsound  in  his  religious  teachings 
after  he  came  to  Springfield.  The  reports  all 
came  from  Connecticut.  A  letter  was  received 
from  a  minister  in  that  Colony,  which  stated  that 
"  Mr.  Breck  was  not  a  suitable  person  to  be 
employed  in  the  ministry,"  and  named  Rev. 
Thomas  Clap,  of  Windham,  afterwards  President 
of  Yale  College,  and  two  others,  as  persons  who 
were  responsible  for  the  charges.  This  letter 
was  put  into  the  hands  of  Mr.  Breck,  who  went 
at  once  to  Windham  to  confer  with  Mr.  Clap  in 
respect  to  the  accusations.  Mr.  Clap  was  not 
Charges  against  Satisfied  with  the  result  of  the  confer- 
^^'  ence,  and  so  wrote  a  long  letter  to  the 

Hampshire  Association  of  Ministers,  in  which 
he  set  forth  the  four  charges  against  the  young 
candidate  for  the  pastorate. 

I.  That  he  had  denied  that  the  passage  in 
I  John  V.  7,  concerning  the  "  three  that  bear 
record  in  heaven,"  and  also  the  passage  in 
John  viii.,  concerning  the  woman  taken  in 
adultery,  were  of  divine  inspiration. 

1  Narrative  of  the  Proceedings  of  those  Ministers  of  Hampshire 
County  that  have  disapproved  the  Settlement  of  Mr.  Robert 
Breck,  Boston,  1736. 

Answer  to  the  Above,  Boston,  1736. 

Letter  to  the  Author  of  the  Answer,  Boston,  1737. 


THE    CASE  OF  REV.   ROBERT  BRECK.  345 

2.  That  he  had  also  denied  the  necessity  of 
Christ's  satisfaction  to  divine  justice  for  sin, 
and  had  said  that  God  might,  consistent  with 
His  justice,  forgive  sin  without  any  satisfaction. 

3.  That  he  had  preached  that  the  heathen, 
who  lived  up  to  the  light  of  nature,  would  be 
saved.  Christ  would  be  in  some  way  revealed  to 
them  ;  or  they  would  be  saved  in  some  other  way. 

4.  That  there  was  a  general  report  that  he  had 
stolen  books  from  the  college  library,  while  a  stu- 
dent, and  that  he  had  been  expelled  from  college 
for  this  offence  ;  and  further,  that  when  Mr.  Clap 
had  informed  him  of  these  reports,  he  had  denied 
them,  a  denial  which  was  now  known  to  be  false. 

In  addition  to  all  this,  it  was  stated  in  other 
letters  that  Mr.  Breck  had  said  publicly,  that  "if 
the  decrees  of  God  were  absolute,  he  saw  no 
encouragement  for  men  to  try  to  do  their  duty, 
for  let  them  do  what  they  would,  they  could  not 
alter  their  condition  ;  and  that  we  were  not  under 
obligation  any  further  than  we  had  power."  On 
the  ground  of  these  statements,  it  was  charged 
that  he  was  an  Arminian. 


IV. 

These  charges  were  the  basis  of  the  opposition 
to  the  settlement  of  Mr.  Breck.  In  reply  to  the 
charges,  he  claimed  that   it   was  unjust   to  use 


346       THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND, 


against  him  expressions  which  he  might  have  made 
use  of  in  his  earliest  sermons,  at  a  time  when  his 
views  were  quite  immature  ;  that  these  expressions 
did  not  express  his  settled  opinions  ;  that  some 
of  them  had  never  been  used  in  his  sermons,  but 
only  in  oral  discussion  with  pastors  with  w^hom 
he  was  discoursing,  for  the  sake  of  clearing  his 
own  mind ;  and  also,  that  some  of  these  state- 
ments were  not  inconsistent  with  the  Confession 
of  Faith.  He  asked  to  be  judged,  not  by  these 
early  sermons,  but  by  the  sermons  he  had 
preached  in  his  present  pulpit ;  and  he  repeatedly 
invited  those  who  questioned  his  orthodoxy  to 
satisfy  themselves  by  an  examination  as  to  his 
views  in  theology. 

In  respect  to  the  charge  of  taking  books  from 
the  library,  he  admitted  that  there  had  been  a 
technical  offence,  which  gave  some  color  to  the 
charge,  but  claimed  that  the  offence,  such  as  it 
was,  was  the  fault  of  a  boy  of  thirteen,  and  that  it 
was  so  trivial  that  the  faculty  did  not  make  it  a 
matter  of  formal  discipline,  and  that  his  subse- 
quent deportment  had  been  so  exemplary  that 
they  had  selected  him  as  the  student  most  worthy 
to  receive  the  honorary  prize.  Mr.  Breck  also 
stated  that  he  had  never  denied  that  there  had 
been  some  foundation  for  the  story,  but  had 
only  denied  it  in  the  exaggerated  form  in  which 
it  had  been   reported.     These    are    the   leading 


THE  CASE  OP  REV.  ROBERT  BRECK.  34/ 

points  in  the  case  as  it  is  presented  in  the 
pamphlets  and  in  the  manuscripts  which  have 
been  preserved. 

Mr.  Breck  was  informed  that  these  reports  had 
excited  a  degree  of  prejudice  against  him  among 
the  ministers  of  the  vicinity,  and  that  Declines 
if  he  were  to  accept  the  call  they  might  t^^cau. 
refuse  to  ordain  him.  He  was  also  informed  that 
they  had  exerted  more  or  less  influence  with  some 
members  of  his  congregation.  He  therefore  de- 
cided to  refer  the  matter  again  to  the  people. 
He  knew  that  he  had  the  confidence  of  a  large 
majority  of  his  congregation,  and  that  some  of 
the  pastors  of  the  vicinity  were  satisfied  as  to  his 
integrity  and  his  orthodoxy,  so  that  there  would 
be  no  serious  difficulty  in  securing  ordination. 
"  If  one  council  will  not  do  it,"  he  said,  "  another 
will."  With  these  views,  he  stated,  in  his  reply 
to  the  call,  that  while  he  was  disposed,  on  some 
accounts,  to  accept  their  invitation,  he  did  not 
think  the  provision  for  his  temporal  support  was 
sufficient,  and  that  he  could  not  accept  the  call 
unless  they  should  see  the  way  clear  to  increase 
it.  The  people  were  not  quite  agreed  in  the 
matter,  and  did  not  think  it  expedient  to  increase 
the  salary.  So  that  Mr.  Breck  finally  declined 
the  call,  and  returned  to  his  friends  in  Boston. 


;48      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


V. 

But  the  people  were  not  satisfied.  The  records 
of  the  parish  show  that  the  majority  beheved  that 
his  settlement  had  been  prevented  by  the  inter- 
meddling of  "  some  persons  of  note  who  had  sent 
writings  to  some  of  the  ministers  of  this  vicinity." 
The  parish,  therefore,  appointed  a  committee, 
November  8th,  to  find  out  how  much  ground 
there  was  for  the  charges  against  Mr.  Breck,  and 
also  to  learn  more  definitely  the  views  of  the 
ministers.  In  response  to  their  inquiries,  six  of 
the  pastors,  among  whom  we  find  the  name  of 
Jonathan  Edwards,  signed  a  paper,  which  reads 
as  follows :  — 

"  Upon  consideration  of  the  case  of  Mr.  Robert 
Breck,  represented  to  us  in  some  letters  from 
Windham  and  Norwich,  we  think  it  advisable 
that  the  people  of  Springfield  do  no  further  make 
their  application  to  him." 

The  committee  reported,  and  the  people  con- 
sidered the  advice.  Six  weeks  later,  the  freehold- 
ers, and  other  inhabitants  assembled  according  to 
law,  voted  "  that  application  be  made  to  the  worthy 
Mr.  Robert  Breck  to  preach  the  word  of  God  to  us 
in  this  place,  in  order  to  a  settlement."  This  vote 
was  passed  by  a  decisive  majority,  and  a  committee 
was  chosen  to  proceed  to  Cambridge,  make  inves- 


THE   CASE   OF  REV.   ROBERT  BRECK.  349 

tigations,  ask  advice,  and  act  according  to  their 
best  judgment.  The  result  was  that  Mr.  Breck 
returned  to  Springfield,  and  began  to  preach 
again.  This  open  disregard  of  the  advice  of  the 
ministers  of  the  vicinity  seems  to  have  been  un- 
usual, and  it  had  the  effect  to  lead  them  to  enter 
more  directly  into  the  case.  A  majority  of  them 
seem  to  have  thought  that  it  would  be  an  in- 
fringement of  their  rights  for  the  people  to  settle 
a  minister  within  the  county  in  opposition  to  their 
advice.  The  next  stage  in  the  business  was  the 
effort  of  the  Association  to  investigate  the  charges 
against  Mr.  Breck.  They  entered  into  corre- 
spondence with  various  parties  in  Connecticut; 
and  also  induced  Mr.  Breck  to  write  to  Mr.  Clap, 
and  endeavor  to  make  his  peace  with  him.  They 
invited  Mr.  Breck  to  attend  the  meeting  of  the 
Association,  in  April,  1735,  and  make  such  state- 
ment as  he  thought  proper  with  reference  to  the 
charges.  He  seems  to  have  accepted  their  pro- 
posals in  good  faith.  He  wrote  a  letter  to  Mr. 
Clap,  in  which  he  made  such  acknowledgments 
and  concessions  as  he  thought  proper,  but  he 
failed  to  satisfy  that  gentleman.  He  also  read  to 
the  Association  a  paper  which  was  quite  satisfac- 
tory to  some  of  the  pastors,  but  not  to  the  majority. 
Six  out  of  thirteen  ministers  now  took  his  part, 
and  remained  his  friends  to  the  end.  He  next 
asked  the  Association  to  satisfy  themselves  as  to 


350      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


his  theological  views  by  an  oral  examination. 
The  majority  declined  to  do  this,  on  the  ground 
that  charges  were  already  pending  against  him. 
At  this  stage  of  the  business  a  committee  from 
the  First  Parish  appeared  before  the  Association 
to  inquire  "  what  impediment,  if  any,  there  was  to 
the  settlement  of  Mr.  Breck  ;  and  if  such  impedi- 
ment existed,  how  it  could  be  removed." 


VI. 

This  was  designed  to  open  the  way  for  a  formal 
examination  of  the  charges  of  Mr.  Clap  and  others 
from  Connecticut.  Mr.  Breck  and  his  friends 
were  prepared  to  welcome  such  an  investigation ; 
but  they  asked  to  be  permitted  to  name  one  or 
two  of  the  persons  who  were  to  pass  upon  the 
case.  The  Association  appointed  seven  of  their 
own  members  to  hear  the  whole  case,  and  to  give 
their  judgment.  It  was  pointed  out  to  them  that 
several  of  these  gentlemen  had  already  prejudged 
the  case,  and  expressed  their  opinion  publicly. 
Mr.  Breck  offered  to  go  on  with  the  investigation 
if  one  of  the  committee  would  retire,  or  if,  that 
gentleman  remaining,  he  might  call  in  two  un- 
prejudiced persons  from  outside  the  county. 
These  propositions  were  declined  by  the  majority, 
and  so  the  proposed  investigation  failed. 


THE  CASE  OP  REV.  ROBERT  BRECK.  35  I 

At  this  stage  of  the  business  the  First  Church 
in  Springfield,  on  the  17th  of  April,  renewed  their 
call  to  Mr.  Breck,  and  one  week  later  xne  cau 
the  parish  voted  to  concur.  It  ap-  ^^^^wed. 
peared  that  a  decided  majority  of  the  church  and 
congregation  were  very  earnest  to  secure  the  per- 
manent settlement  of  the  young  preacher  as 
their  pastor.  It  remained  to  be  seen  whether  the 
minority  of  the  people,  aided  by  the  majority  of  the 
Association,  would  be  able  to  prevent  it.  Mr. 
Breck,  made  wiser  by  the  experiences  of  the  year, 
acted  with  a  degree  of  prudence  and  foresight 
which  he  had  not  before  shown.  He  first  sent  a 
communication  to  the  people,  in  which  he  said 
that,  in  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  this  case, 
he  should  seek  advice  from  his  friends  before  he 
gave  an  answer  to  their  call.  He  went  soon  after 
to  Boston,  and  requested  the  pastors  of  that  town, 
who  were  well-known  throughout  the  Province, 
to  examine  him  as  to  his  views  in  theology.  This 
they  did,  and  as  a  result  gave  him  a  certificate^ 
that  they  had  found  him  sound  in  the  faith.  They 
say  :  "  These  may  certify  that  on  the  8th  day  of 
May,   1735,  we  discoursed  with    Robert    Breck, 

1  This  was  signed  by  Benjamin  Coleman,  Joseph  Sewall,  John 
Webb,  William  Cooper,  Thomas  Foxcroft,  Samuel  Checkley, 
Joshua  Gee,  and  Mather  Byles.  One  of  them  said  afterwards  :  "  I 
can  assure  you  that  his  examination  was  not  a  slighty  one,  if  the 
ability  and  fidelity  of  the  eight  ministers  that  were  concerned  in  it 
can  be  relied  on." 


352      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

M.  A.,  to  our  good  satisfaction,  concerning  his 
orthodoxy  in  the  great  doctrines  of  Christianity, 
as  believed  and  professed  in  the  churches  of  Christ 
in  New  England,  agreeable  to  the  Westminster 
Confession  of  Faith ;  and  so  recommend  him  to 
the  grace  of  God,  and  are  his  brethren  in  Christ." 
With  this  indorsement  he  returned  to  Spring- 
field, and  on  the  28th  of  July  accepted  the  call. 
The  next  step  was  to  select  a  council  for  his 
ordination.  The  excitement  in  Springfield  ran 
very  high.  Four  members  of  the  church  presented 
a  protest,  which  was  entered  upon  the  records. 
Twenty-seven  members  of  the  parish  sent  to  Mr. 
Breck  a  remonstrance  against  his  course  in 
accepting  the  call  before  submitting  himself  to 
the  judgment  of  the  ministers  of  the  Associa- 
tion as  to  his  orthodoxy  and  as  to  his  character. 
Mr.  Breck  replied  that  the  council  would  be  the 
proper  tribunal  to  pass  upon  all  these  questions. 


VII. 

In  the  end  the  church  voted,  by  a  decided 
majority,  to  call  a  council  for  his  installation. 
They  selected  four  churches  within  the  county, 
designating  them  by  the  names  of  their  pastors, 
and  left  it  with  the  pastor-elect,  with  a  committee 
of  the  church,  to  select  an  equal  number  of 
churches  outside  the  county.      The  council,  as 


THE  CASE  OF  REV.  ROBERT  BRECK.  353 

finally  agreed  upon,  consisted^  of  the  church  in 
Hatfield,  Rev.  William  Williams,  pastor;  Hadley, 
Rev.  Isaac  Chauncy,  pastor  ;  Sufiield,  Rev.  Eben- 
ezer  Devotion,  pastor;  Sunderland,  Rev.  William 
Rand,  pastor;  Brattle  Street  Church,  Boston, 
Rev.  William  Cooper,  pastor;  Second  ihecouncu 
Church,  Boston,  Rev.  Samuel  Mather,  ^^^*^' 
pastor ;  the  New  Brick  Church,  Boston,  Rev. 
William  Welstead,  pastor;  and  the  church  in 
Sudbury,  Rev.  William  Cooke,  pastor.  The 
council  was  to  meet  October  7th. 

Those  who  opposed  the  settlement  of  Mr.  Breck 
denied  the  legality  of  the  council  for  two  reasons: 
First,  because  the  votes  of  the  church  designated 
the  pastors,  instead  of  the  churches  to  which  they 
ministered  ;  and  because  these  votes  left  it  with 
the  pastor-elect  and  a  committee  of  the  church  to 
select  a  part  of  the  churches ;  and.  Secondly,  be- 
cause the  church  had  no  right  to  call  churches 
from  outside  Hampshire  County.  It  was  replied, 
on  the  part  of  the  church,  that  what  was  done  by 

1  Mr.  Williams  was  the  oldest  minister  in  the  county,  being  70  ; 
Isaac  Chauncy  (H.  C,  1693)  was  grandson  of  President  Chauncy; 
Ebenezer  Devotion,  H.  C,  1707;  William  Rand,  H.  C,  1724; 
William  Cooper,  born  1694,  H.  C,  171 2,  junior  pastor  with  Dr. 
Coleman, —  "there  was  not  a  more  decided  Calvi»isL  than  he,  yet 
he  was  a  staunch  advocate  of  religious  liberty,"  —  was  elected 
President  H.  C,  1737  ;  Samuel  Mather,  son  of  Cotton  Mather,  H. 
C,  1723;  D.D.,  —  "was  charged  with  looseness  of  doctrine;" 
William  Welstead,  H.  C,  1716,  "  an  excellent  Christian  gentleman, 
and  an  exemplary  minister;  "   William  Cooke,  H.  C,  1716. 

23 


354      ^^-^  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

its  committee,  chosen  for  the  purpose,  was  done 
by  itself,  —  that  the  letter  missive,  which  went  in 
the  name  of  the  church,  was  addressed  to  all  the 
churches,  by  name,  and  that  they  had  elected 
delegates  to  the  council,  showing  that  they  under- 
stood the  invitation.  It  was  also  claimed  that 
they  had  a  right  to  go  outside  the  county  for 
members  of  the  council,  as  there  was  nothing  in 
the  Cambridge  Platform  to  forbid  it ;  and  that  in 
this  case  it  was  necessary  in  order  to  secure  an 
impartial  council. 

It  is  not  easy  to  understand,  at  this  distance  of 
time,  the  intense  interest  which  this  case  excited, 
not  only  at  Springfield,  but  in  other  parts  of  New 
England.  The  members  of  the  council  from  Bos- 
ton went  to  Springfield  a  week  in  advance  of  the 
meeting  of  the  council,  in  order  to  consult  with 
the  ministers  of  the  vicinity,  and  learn  from  them 
directly  the  grounds  of  their  opposition.  How 
abundant  the  leisure  of  those  pastors  of  the  olden 
time!  It  is  a  hundred  miles  from  Boston  to 
Springfield,  and  the  stage-coaches,  or  ministerial 
chaises,  of  those  days  would  be  more  than  one  day 
on  the  journey.  Yet  they  went  from  town  to  town 
in  the  Connecticut  valley,  and  tried  to  induce  the 
pastors  to  submit  their  complaints  against  Mr. 
Breck  to  the  council.  When  the  time  for  the 
meeting  of  the  council  came,  the  ministers  of 
the  county  were  present  in  Springfield  to  watch  the 


THE   CASE   OF  REV.   ROBERT  BRECK.  355 

proceedings,  and  to  use  their  influence  to  prevent 
the  ordination.  The  President  of  Yale  College 
was  also  there,  as  the  champion  of  orthodoxy,  to 
direct  the  measures  of  the  opposition.  Rev. 
Thomas  Clap  and  a  number  of  other  pastors  from 
Connecticut  were  there,  with  documents  to  be 
presented  to  the  council.  It  was  confidently 
asserted  by  the  opponents  of  Mr.  Breck  that 
whatever  the  council  might  do,  "  there  would  be 
no  ordination." 

In  order  to  secure  the  fulfilment  of  this  predic- 
tion, the  dissatisfied  members  of  the  parish  had 
induced  three  justices  of  the  Court  of  Sessions  to 
come  from  Northampton  to  Springfield,  with  the 
purpose  of  using  the  authority  of  the  court,  if 
necessary,  to  prevent  the  council  from  completing 
the  service  for  which  it  had  been  convened.  It 
was  afterwards  proved  before  the  General  Court 
that  it  was  at  first  intended  to  arrest  all  the  mem- 
bers of  the  council  who  had  come  fi'om  outside  the 
county,  and  lock  them  up  in  jail,  on  the  ground 
that  their  attempt  to  sit  as  members  of  a  council 
in  Hampshire  County  was  an  unlawful  act, — an 
usurpation  of  power,  —  to  the  great  injury  of  the 
minority.  Warrants  were  actually  n:^ade  out  for 
their  arrest,  but  as  one  of  the  justices  was  doubtful 
as  to  their  right  to  issue  them,  this  plan  was  aban- 
doned. The  second  plan  was  to  arrest  ]\Ir.  Breck, 
and  hold  him  in  custody  until  the  council  should 
adjourn. 


356       THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


VIII. 

We  may  well  suppose  that  when  the  day  for 
the  meeting  of  the  council  came  business  was 
suspended  in  Springfield,  and  that  the  people  were 
eagerly  watching  the  proceedings.  The  council 
met  in  the  morning,  not  in  the  church,  but  in  the 
house  of  Madam  Brewer,  the  widow  of  the  last 
pastor.  Seven  of  the  eight  churches  invited  were 
represented  by  pastors  and  delegates.  The 
church  in  Hatfield,  of  which  the  venerable  William 
Wilhams  was  pastor,  declined  to  respond,  on  the 
ground  that  the  council  was  irregular  and  illegal. 
p,.,,,^,3,f  The  council  organized  by  choosing 
the  Council.  j^gy^  William  Cooper,  of  Boston, 
?^Ioderator.  Their  first  act  was  to  invite  the  church 
—  as  well  the  minority  as  the  majority  —  to  lay  all 
the  facts  in  the  case  before  them.  Two  papers 
were  presented.  The  first  was  a  remonstrance 
against  the  right  of  "  the  body  calling  itself  a 
council  "  to  ordain  Mr.  Breck,  signed  by  William 
Pynchon,  Jr.,  Esq.,  and  others  of  the  minority  of 
the  parish.  The  second  was  a  protest  against  the 
right  of  the  council  to  act  in  the  case,  signed  by 
six  pastors  of  the  county.  The  council,  after  con- 
sidering these  papers,  and  the  reasons  which  were 
set  forth  in  support  of  them,  voted  :  "  That  the 
elders  and  other  dele2:ates  here  assembled  are  an 


THE  CASE  OP  REV.  ROBERT  BRECK.  35/ 

ecclesiastical  council,  properly  called  by  the  First 
Church  in  Springfield  to  join  in  the  regular  carry- 
ino:  on  of  the  ordination  of  Mr.  Breck,  and  are 
ready  to  hear,  judge,  and  act  in  the  case." 

The  council  next  called  upon  those  who  objected 
to  Mr.  Breck  to  present  the  evidence  in  support 
of  the  charges  which  they  made  against  him. 
This  they  declined  to  do,  on  the  ground  that  they 
could  not  recognize  the  body  then  in  session  as  a 
regular  and  lesial  council.  The  Moderator  next 
asked  Rev.  Mr.  Clap  and  Rev.  Mr.  Kirkland,  the 
authors  of  the  charges,  to  let  the  council  know 
whatever  they  knew  against  the  candidate,  which 
might  disqualify  him  for  the  ministry.  Mr.  Clap 
proceeded  to  read  a  number  of  documents,  most 
of  them  sworn  to  before  a  magistrate,  with  refer- 
ence to  the  preaching  of  Mr.  Breck  while  he  was 
in  Connecticut.  These  papers  cover  the  whole 
case,  and  constitute  the  evidence  on  which  the 
minority  based  their  opposition.  They  are  printed 
in  full  in  the  pamphlet  published  by  the  Hamp- 
shire ministers.  Just  as  Mr.  Clap  finished  read- 
ing the  papers,  and  before  Mr.  Breck  Arrest  of 
had  commenced  his  reply,  an  officer  tue  candidate, 
entered  the  room  with  a  warrant  for  the  arrest  of 
"  Robert  Breck,  gentleman,"  and  for  bringing  him 
forthwith  before  the  court  then  in  session  in  the 
town-house,  "  To  answer  for  such  things  as  should 
be  objected  to  him."     Mr.  Breck  was  taken  by 


358      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

the  officer  from  the  council,  and  carried  to  the 
town-house.  Proclamation  was  made  that  any 
persons  who  knew  about  the  principles  or  the 
character  of  Mr.  Breck  should  come  forward  and 
give  testimony.  Mr.  Clap  and  Mr.  Kirkland  came 
forward  and  presented  the  evidence  which  they 
had  just  read  to  the  council,  with  some  additional 
statements.  Mr.  Breck  was  also  examined  by  the 
justices  as  to  his  theological  opinions.  The  evi- 
dence tended  to  show  that  he  was  not  sound  in 
the  faith,  and  also  that  he  had  charged  various 
persons  with  misrepresentation  and  falsehood. 
The  old  charge  of  taking  books  from  the  college 
library  was  also  referred  to  in  the  testimony  as  a 
matter  of  common  report.  The  proceedings  seem 
to  have  been  of  the  nature  of  an  inquiry  into  the 
character  of  the  candidate  and  his  fitness  to  be  a 
settled  minister  under  the  laws  of  the  Province. 

These  proceedings  of  the  secular  power  had 
the  effect,  of  course,  of  suspending  the  session  of 
the  ecclesiastical  council.  Before  adjourning, 
how'Cver,  they  sent  a  vigorous  protest  to  the  court, 
in  which  they  say  that  they  "  consider  it  a  duty 
not  only  to  the  church  in  Springfield,  but  to  the 
churches  which  they  represent,  and  to  all  the 
churches  of  Christ  throughout  the  Province,  to 
inform  the  court  that  when  they  sent  their  officer 
to  apprehend  Mr.  Breck  they  were  regularly  and 
legally  convened  in  council,  at  the  desire  of  the 


THE  CASE  OF  REV.  ROBERT  BRECK.  359 

church  in  Springfield,  for  the  regular  carrying  on 
the  ordination  of  said  Mr.  Breck,  according  to  the 
order  of  the  gospel  in  the  churches  of  New  Eng- 
land, and  were  actually  hearing  the  charges 
aorainst  him  when  the  court  saw  fit  to  wrest  the 
case  out  of  their  hands."  Having  sent  their  pro- 
test, the  council  waited  for  the  result.  Mr.  Breck 
was  held  in  custody  until  night;  and  the  justices 
Gjave  orders  to  their  officer  to  hold  him  till  the 
next  day.  But  certain  members  of  the  council 
gave  their  word  that  he  should  appear  when  called 
for,  and  he  was  permitted  to  go  to  his  lodgings. 

The  council  reassembled  early  in  the  morning, 
and  continued  the  hearing  of  the  case.  Mr.  Clap 
and  Mr.  Kirkland  made  oral  statements  as  to 
the  additional  testimony  they  had  given  in  court. 
The  justices  soon  sent  for  Mr.  Breck,  and  held 
him  until  late  in  the  afternoon,  when  they  made 
out  a  warrant  which  directed  the  sheriff  to  take 
him  to  Windsor,  in  the  Colony  of  Connecticut, 
and  deliver  him  into  the  custody  of  the  County 
Court,  "  there  to  answer  for  those  things  which 
might  be  objected  against  him."  He  was  taken 
to  Windsor,  and  delivered  to  the  officers  of  the 
court.  He  was  permitted  to  give  bonds  for  his 
appearance  at  a  subsequent  time  t6  answer  to  a 
charo-e  concernino:  the  doctrines  which  he  had 
preached  while  within  that  Colony. 

These  proceedings    increased   very   much   the 


360       THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

excitement  among  the  people  at  Springfield.  The 
church  appointed  a  committee  to  attend  him,  "  in 
token  of  respect  as  their  pastor-elect,  and  the 
people  gave  evident  marks  of  their  affection  for 
him  as  he  went  through  the  town."  The  next 
day  they  assembled  in  the  meeting-house  to  pray 
for  his  safe  return.  The  record  says :  "  It  was  a 
large  and  weeping  assembly."  A  day  or  two  later, 
Mr.  Breck  returned  to  Springfield,  and  the  coun- 
cil resumed  its  sessions.  They  considered  more 
fully  the  charges  and  the  testimony  for  and  against 
him,  and  listened  to  his  reply.  The  decisive  paper 
in  the  case  was  a  Confession  of  Faith  w^hich  he 
drew  up  for  the  satisfaction  of  the  council,  as  a 
statement  of  his  mature  opinions  concerning  the 
leading  truths  of  the  Gospel.^     It  is  a  serious  and 

1  In  this  Confession,  which  is  too  long  to  insert  entire,  he  declares 
his  belief  in  one  God,  who  is  also  triune ;  in  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
which  are  of  divine  authority,  and  which  have  been  preserved  by 
God's  providence  "  pure  and  uncorrupt ; "  in  the  decrees  of  God, 
by  which,  whatsoever  comes  to  pass  in  time  has  been  foreordained 
from  all  eternity,  —  "yet  so  as  not  to  take  away  the  will  of  His 
creatures,  or  make  Himself  the  Author  of  sin  ;  "  in  the  providential 
government  of  the  world;  in  the  first  covenant  with  Adam;  in  his 
fall  from  his  first  estate,  which  involved  the  race  "  in  his  guilt  and 
corruption  ; "  in  the  covenant  of  redemption,  and  the  vicarious  sac- 
rifice of  the  God-Man,  "  which  satisfied  divine  justice  for  the  sins 
of  the  elect,  and  reconciles  them  to  God ;  "  in  the  work  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  "who  makes  effectual  application  of  the  benefits  of  Christ's 
redemption  to  the  souls  of  men ;  "  in  the  inability  of  fallen  man  to 
that  which  is  spiritually  good,  and  the  necessity  of  effectual  calling 
by  the  Almighty  Spirit ;  in  the  imputation  of  the  righteousness  of 


THE  CASE  OF  REV.  ROBERT  BRECK.  36 1 

definite    statement,    following    substantially    the 
Westminster   Confession,    and,     by    implication, 
renouncing  most  of  the  errors  which  he  had  been 
accused  of  preaching  in  Connecticut.      After  re- 
citing the  statement  of  his  belief,  he  said  :  "  This 
is  the  scheme  of  Christian  doctrine  which  I  have 
learned  from  the   Holy  Scriptures,  and  which   I 
shall  think  myself  obliged  to  teach  others  in  the 
best  manner  I  am  able,  while  at  the  same  time   I 
put  them  that  profess  to  believe  in  mind  that  they 
be   careful   to   maintain   good  works.     It    is  my 
prayer  that  my  knowledge  of  these  things  may 
be  enlarged,  my    faith  of    them    confirmed,   and 
that  I  may  be  enabled  always  to  keep  the  mys- 
tery   of    the    faith  in  a  pure   conscience."     This 
Confession  was  satisfactory  to  the  whole  council. 
It  was  read  by  a  man  on  horseback,  to  a  great 
crowd    of  people    who  assembled    in  the   street 
in  front  of  the  house  in  which  the  council  was 
holding  its  sessions  ;  and  was  subsequently  read 
by  the"  candidate    to    the  congregation    at    his 
ordination.     The  council,  after  a  full  considera- 
tion   of   the  case,   came  to   a    Result    in  which 
they  said,  that  they  found  that   Mr.  Breck  had 
been  regularly  called   by  a  very  great  majority 

Christ  for  their  justification  ;  in  the  work  of  sanctification  ;  in  the 
final  perseverance  of  the  saints ;  the  eternal  separation  of  the  right- 
eous from  the  wicked ;  the  righteous  for  life  eternal,  and  the  wicked 
for  everlasting  punishment. 


362      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


to  the  church  and  precinct  of  Springfield;  and 
also  that  he  was  sound  in  the  faith,  and  of  good 
conversation ;  so  that  they  advise  the  people  "  to 
continue  their  regards  for  him."  "  Nevertheless," 
they  say,  "  having  met  with  an  unusual  interposi- 
tion and  hindrance  in  carrying  on  the  work  upon 
which  we  were  called,  we  do  not  think  it  advisable 
to  proceed  further  herein  at  this  time,  but  that  this 
council  be  adjourned  "  to  meet  in  Boston,  October 
2ist.  The  Moderator  remained  in  Springfield 
over  the  Sabbath,  and  read  this  result  to  the 
congregation. 

IX. 

The  object  of  the  adjournment  was  not  only 
to  allow  time  for  the  excitement  to  subside,  but 
also  to  test  the  legality  of  the  interference  of 
the  secular  authorities  with  the  work  of  the 
council.  Two  weeks  later,  the  church  appointed 
a  committee  to  bring  the  matter  before  the 
General  Court.  This  committee  presented  a 
memorial  to  the  General  Court  on  the  25th  of 
November,  in  which  they  stated  the  fact  of  the 
call  of  Mr.  Breck  by  a  very  great  majority  of  the 
church  and  precinct,  and  the  convening  of  a 
council  for  his  ordination,  and  say  that  "  on  the 
day  appointed  for  that  solemnity  John  Stoddard, 
Ebenezer  Pomeroy,  and  Timothy  Dwight,  Esqrs., 
his  Majesty's  justices  of  the  peace  for  the  County 


THE  CASE  OF  REV.  ROBERT  BRECK.  363 


of  Hampshire,  had  caused  him  to  be  arrested  and 
taken  from   the  aforesaid   ecclesiastical   council, 
and  brought  before  them,  and  that  they  examined 
him    touching   divers    points    of    doctrine;    and, 
further,  that  by  a  warrant  from  the  said  justices, 
he  was  sent  to  Windsor,  in  the   Colony  of   Con- 
necticut, where  he  was  bound  over  by  Appeal  to  tue 
the  County  Court  to  answer  to  a  charge  ^^^^^^ court, 
touching  his  doctrines."     They  ask  the  General 
Court  to  decide  whether  these  proceedings  have 
been  according  to  law,  and  if  not,  to  grant  such 
redress  as  the  case  admits. 

The  journals  of  the  General  Court  show  that 
the  case  was  very  fully  considered  by  that  body. 
It  was  first  assigned  to  the  5th  of  December,  at 
which  time  the  papers  were  read.  It  was  voted 
to  inquire  into  the  matter  of  complaint,  and  to 
appoint  a  committee  to  report  what  action  ought 
to  be  taken.  Notice  was  sent  to  the  justices  at 
Northampton,  and  to  other  parties  interested. 
The  General  Court  heard  not  only  the  committee 
from  Springfield,  but  Mr.  Breck,  and  the  Mode- 
rator of  the  council,  and  various  other  persons. 
The  matter  was  before  the  Court  December  5th 
and  6th,  9th,  24th,  26th,  and  27th.  The  decision 
was ;  First,  that  the  council  was  duly  called,  and 
was  properly  and  legally  a  council,  according  to 
the  usages  of  the  churches ;  and.  Secondly,  that 
the  justices  had  no  right  to  "  interrupt  the  church 


364       THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

and  ecclesiastical  council,  while  they  were,  in  the 
exercise  of  their  just  rights,  investigating  the 
case." 

Strengthened   by    this    decision,    the    council, 
which  had  been  continued  by  successive  adjourn- 
ments, reassembled  at    Springfield   on 

The  Ordination.  .  i        r  t  ^  ^  u  c     :^- 

the  27th  of  January,  1736,  and  findmg 
that  the  people  did  abide  firm  in  their  choice  of 
Mr.  Breck,  and  their  desire  to  have  him  as  their 
pastor,"  they  proceeded  to  ordain  him  as  pastor 
of  the  church.  The  sermon  was  preached  by 
Mr.  Cooper,  the  Moderator,  from  Matthew  xiii.  3. 
In  this  sermon,  which  w^as  printed,  Mr.  Cooper 
bears  this  testimony  in  respect  to  the  young 
pastor :  "  I  think  myself  bound  to  testify,  on  this 
occasion,  that  in  all  this  time  I  never  heard  one 
hard  word  drop  from  you  respecting  any  person 
of  any  order.  I  have  seen  your  tears,  admired 
your  silence,  and  hope  God  has  heard  your 
prayers.  May  tlie  fruit  of  all  be  to  humble 
you,  to  prove  you,  and  to  make  you  a  greater 
blessing  to  this  church  and  people." 


X. 

Those  who  were  opposed  to  Mr.  Breck  made 
one  more  effort  to  prevent  him  from  continuing 
as  the  minister  of  the  church.  They  signed  a 
complaint  to  the  Court  of  Sessions  for  the  county, 


THE   CASE   OF  REV.   ROBERT  BRECK.  365 

which  set  forth  that  the  church  in  Springfield 
was  destitute  of  a  minister  duly  settled  according 
to  law ;  that  one  Robert  Breck  had  taken  upon 
himself  the  office  of  pastor,  under  pretence  that 
he  had  been  ordained ;  that  the  said  Breck  is  not 
qualified,  according  to  the  laws  of  this  Province, 
to  be  a  Gospel  minister,  inasmuch  as  he  is  not 
orthodox  in  his  belief,  and  not  of  good  conver- 
sation;  that,  according  to  law,  there  can  be  no 
money  raised  for  the  settlement  and  support  of 
any  person  in  the  ministry  but  such  as  are 
orthodox  and  of  good  conversation.  They  there- 
fore ask  the  court  to  make  such  order  in  the 
premises  "  that  some  suitable  person  may  be 
settled  in  the  pastoral  office  in  said  church,  it 
being  contrary  to  the  law  of  this  Province,  and 
the  peace  of  the  king,  that  a  person  of  such 
principles  and  conversation  should  take  upon 
himself  the  office  of  a  minister,  or  that  the  said 
church  should  be  destitute  of  a  settled  minister." 
The  court  took  this  petition  into  consideration 
on  the  2d  of  March,  and  summoned  the  church 
and  parish  to  appear  and  answer  the  complaint. 
The  parish  appointed  a  committee  of  five,  of 
which  William  Pynchon,  Jr.,  Esq.,  was  chairman, 
to  represent  them  before  the  court,  and  instructed 
them  to  "  carry  the  case  as  far  as  necessary,  from 
court  to  court,  in  order  to  a  final  determination 
of   the  matter."      As  there  is  no  further  refer- 


366     THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

ence  to  the  case  in  the  records  of  the  parish,  it 
is  probable  that  it  never  came  before  the  court 
for  trial. 

These  proceedings  were  followed  by  a  number 
of  pamphlets,  which  are  the  authentic  sources  of 
information  concerning  these  matters.  The  first 
was  published  in  Boston,  1736,  a  few  months  after 
the  ordination  had  taken  place.  It  is  entitled 
"  A  Narrative  of  the  Proceedings  of  those  Minis- 
ters of  the  County  of  Hampshire  that  have  dis- 
approved the  Settlement  of  Mr.  Robert  Breck." 
It  is  a  vigorous  pamphlet  of  about  one  hundred 
pages.  This  was  followed  the  same  year  by  "  An 
Answer  to  the  Hampshire  Narrative."  This  also 
contains  one  hundred  pages.  It  is  said  to  have 
been  written  by  Rev.  William  Cooper,  of  Boston. 
The  next  year  appeared  another  thick  pamphlet, 
with  the  title,  "A  Letter  to  the  Author  of  the 
Answer  to  the  Narrative." 


XL 

While  these  proceedings  in  court,  and  this  war 
of  pamphlets  were  going  on,  the  young  pastor  set 
himself  to  conciliate  the  opposition  among  his 
people.  He  gave  himself  to  the  duties  of  his  office 
with  exemplary  fidelity.  It  is  said  of  him,  that  if 
he  wished  any  favor  he  would  ask  it  from  some 
one  of  his  people  who  had  been  unfriendly.    Such 


THE  CASE   OF  REV.  ROBERT  BRECK.  36/ 

an  expression  of  his  confidence  won  their  good 
will.  He  chose  his  wife  wisely  also.  He  married, 
a  few  weeks  after  his  ordination,  Eunice  Brewer, 
the  daughter  of  his  predecessor,  who  had  been 
universally  loved  and  revered.  He  invited  Rev. 
Stephen  Williams,  of  Longmeadow,  w^ho  had  been 
one  of  the  most  decided  of  his  opponents,  to  per- 
form the  marriage  ceremony;  and  this  act  of 
courtesy  is  said  to  have  modified  his  opposition. 
In  a  few  years,  he  was  accepted  by  his  brethren 
in  the  ministry,  as  well  as  by  his  people,  as  a 
minister  "able,  learned,  orthodox,  and  of  good 
conversation." 

Mr.  Breck  was  the  pastor  of  the  church  in 
Springfield  forty-eight  years.  The  church  grew 
with  the  town,  and  its  minister  became  a 
man  of  great  influence  in  the  Connecti- 
cut valley.  It  is  more  than  a  hundred  3'ears  since 
his  death  ;  but  the  traditions  concerning  him  at 
Springfield  are  still  fresh,  and  he  is  held  in  great 
esteem  and  veneration.  His  funeral  sermon  was 
preached  by  Dr.  Lathrop,  of  West  Springfield, 
who  had  been  a  student  in  divinity  under  him. 
In  this  sermon, he  said:  "  His  intellectual  powers 
were  naturally  superior,  and  were  brightened  by 
his  education,  and  enlarged  by  an  extensive  ac- 
quaintance with  men  and  books.  He  accustomed 
himself  to  a  close  manner  of  reasoning  and  think- 
ing, and  filled  up  his  time  with  diligent  application. 


368      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

History  was  his  amusement,  divinity  his  study; 
he  excelled  in  both,  especially  the  latter.  He  was 
an  accomplished  gentleman,  and  an  exemplary 
Christian.  His  attendance  on  the  duties  of  his 
profession  was  constant,  his  preparations  for  the 
sanctuary  were  mature,  his  public  prayers  were 
deliberate  and  solemn,  his  sermons  were  full  of 
thought,  —  dressed  in  the  most  proper  language, 
and  communicated  in  the  easiest  manner.  His 
reliofious  sentiments  were  formed  on  a  careful 
examination  of  the  Scriptures,  without  servile 
attachment  to  sects  or  systems.  His  turn  of 
thinking  was  liberal  yet  Scriptural,  exalted  yet 
humble." 

Such  was  the  man  as  he  seemed  to  his  con- 
temporaries at  the  close  of  a  pastorate  of  half  a 
century. 


VIII. 


The  Religious  Life  in  the  Eighteenth  Cen 
tury  in  Northern  New  England. 

Brunswick,  Maine. 


24 


The  Religious  Life  in  the  Eighteenth  Cen- 
tury in  Northern  New  England. 

Brunswick,  Maine.^ 

A  T  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century,  less 
•^^  than  half  of  what  is  now  called  New  England 
had  been  settled.  There  were  a  few  strong  towns 
in  New  Hampshire,  and  a  few  settlements  on  the 
coast  of  Maine.  As  the  people  of  Puritan  descent 
pushed  their  way  northward,  to  settle  and  cultivate 
what  is  now  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  and  Ver- 
mont, they  organized  their  towns  and  their 
churches  according  to  the  Puritan  models.  Those 
new  communities  passed  through  experiences  not 
very  different  from  those  through  which  the 
people  in  southern  New  England  had  passed  a 
hundred  years  earlier.  It  was,  in  many  respects, 
the  Puritan  history  over  again. 

Yet  there  were  decided  differences  between  the 
older  and  the  newer  churches.  Many  of  the  most 
perplexing  questions  had  been  settled  during  the 
first  generation.     There  was  a  well-defined  polity 

1  An  Address  at  the  Hundred  and  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the 
Congregational  Church  in  Brunswick. 


372       THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


for  the  churches.     The  system  of  administration 

had  been  slowly  learned  from  experiences  in  the 

town  and  the  county  and  the  Province.     The  new 

churches  were  likely  to  receive  encour- 

Difference  •    i      •  i    r 

between  the  agcmcnt  and  material  aid  from  the  older 
Newer"  and  Stronger  churches.  Southern  New 
Churches.  England  did  a  great  deal  of  Home  Mis- 
sionary work  in  northern  New  England,  long 
before  the  west  was  opened  for  such  work.  There 
was  a  greater  diversity  of  race  and  nationality 
when  the  later  churches  were  gathered.  In  many 
of  the  newer  towns  the  Scotch  Presbyterians  were 
as  numerous  as  the  descendants  of  the  Puritans. 
It  took  a  generation  or  two  for  these  elements  to 
harmonize.  The  war  of  the  Revolution  affected 
these  newer  settlements  more  than  it  did  those 
that  were  older,  because  they  were  more  exposed 
to  attacks  from  the  Indians,  and  from  the  English 
in  Canada. 

It  is  worth  while,  therefore,  to  study  the  religious 
life  in  northern  New  England  in  the  eighteenth 
century.  To  do  this,  let  us  take  a  representative 
church  in  Maine,  in  the  town  of  Brunswick,  which 
was  settled  in  the  early  years  of  the  century. 
The  first  settlers  began  very  early  to  make  pro- 
vision for  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel.  Some- 
times at  Fort  George,  sometimes  in  private 
dwellings,  or  in  barns,  and  later  in  the  first 
meeting-houses,  —  for  there  were  two,  on  opposite 


BRUNSWICK,  MAINE,  IN  THE  18TH  CENTURY.         373 

sides  of  the  township,  —  they  came  together  to 
worship  God.  It  is  plain,  from  such  records  as 
have  come  down  to  us,  that  the  early  settlers 
cared  a  good  deal  for  these  religious  services. 


I. 

Among  the  reasons  which  the  inhabitants  of 
Brunswick  urged,  in  their  petition  for  a  charter, 
in  1735,  were  these:  "  That  a  commo-  Tuepetition 
dious  meeting  house  has  been  erected,  ^^^ » charter, 
and  a  pious  and  orthodox  minister  secured,"  and 
that  they  desired  to  be  vested  with  power  to  tax 
themselves  for  his  maintenance.  This  commo- 
dious meeting-house  was  located  midway  between 
the  old  Fort  and  Maquoit.  The  History  of  the 
town  contains  a  picture  of  this  meeting-house.  It 
was  a  plain  building,  facing  the  south,  with  a  pro- 
jecting porch,  but  without  a  tower  or  steeple.  The 
records  do  not  give  the  dimensions  of  the  edifice, 
but  they  give  glimpses  of  its  interior.  The  walls 
were  unfinished ;  there  was  no  ceiling ;  the  roof 
timbers  were  in  view ;  there  was  a  high  pulpit, 
with  a  sounding-board  above  it.  There  was  a  gal- 
lery, and  both  the  gallery  and  the  floor  of  the 
church  had  pews,  large  and  square ;  and  each  pew 
had  seats  on  three  sides.  The  environment  of 
this  "  commodious  meeting-house  "  was  character- 
istic of  the  times.     In  front  stood  the  stocks ;  in 


374      ^^^  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

the  rear  was  the  whipping-post ;  near  by  was  the 
graveyard.  North  of  the  graveyard  was  a  pound, 
with  a  substantial  fence,  and  agate  securely  locked. 
Within  the  house,  far  up  under  the  roof,  was  a 
loft  used  as  a  powder  magazine,-^ 

II. 

This  was  the  place  of  worship  for  the  people 
of  the  west  side  of  Brunswick  for  about  seventy 
years,  until  after  Bowdoin  College  was  founded. 
The  Early  ^"^  that  pulpit  Robcrt  Rutherford 
Ministers.  preachcd  seven  years,  and  Robert 
Dunlap  thirteen  years,  up  to  1760.  Those  were 
times  of  great  peril  to  the  pioneers,  when  block 
houses  were  built  for  defence  against  the  Indians. 
It  is  related  that  when  Mr.  Dunlap  went  to  New- 
meadows  to  preach,  he  was  escorted  by  his  neigh- 
bors, who  went  armed  to  the  place  of  prayer.  In 
that  pulpit  also,  John  Miller  preached  twenty-four 
years,  which  included  the  period  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary War,  and  Ebenezer  Coffin  eight  years. 
These  together  cover  fifty-two  years  of  somewhat 
regular  pastoral  work  in  the  eighteenth  century.^ 

^  History  of  Brunswick,  637. 

2  Rev.  Robert  Rutherford  was  a  native  of  Ireland.  He  came 
to  this  country  in  1729,  preached  in  Pemaquid  four  years,  preached 
in  Brunswick,  1 735-1 742.  He  died  1756,  aged  68.  History  of 
Brunswick,  802. 

Rev.  Robert  Dunlap  was  born  in  the  parish  of  Barilla,  County 
of  Antrim,  Ulster,  Ireland,  August,  171S,  was  educated  in  the  Uni- 


BRUNSWICK,  MAINE,  IN  THE  18TH  CENTURY.         2>7S 


III. 

These  are  the  outward  facts.  But  underneath 
all  this  there  must  have  been  a  religious  spirit 
and  life  of  which  we  can  gain  little  knowledge 
from  any  records  that  are  now  extant.  The 
records  of  the  First  Parish  relate  very  naturally 
to  secular  matters,  such  as  the  arrangements  for 
the  settlement  and  the  dismission  of  pastors,  the 
assessment  of  the  parish  taxes,  repairs  of  the 
meetinor-house,  and  other  matters  of  a 

^  The  spiritual 

business  nature.  Whenever  there  was  Life  of  the 
any  lack  of  harmony  among  the  mem- 
bers of  the  church,  it  was  very  apt  to  leave  some 
trace  upon  the  records.  It  may  be  that  such 
records  give  undue  prominence  to  these  things. 
But  of  the  spiritual  life  of  the  people,  —  of  their 
religious  habits,  of  the  quality  of  the  preaching 
they  were  able  to  get,  of  the  doctrines  which  they 

versity  of  Edinburgh,  was  Master  of  Arts  at  nineteen,  came  to  this 
country  in  1736.  He  was  a  Presbyterian,  preached  at  various  places 
in  Massachusetts  and  in  Maine,  was  engaged  to  preach  in  Bruns- 
wick in  1746,  on  a  salary  of  ;^20o,  and  ordained  in  Boston,  in  1747. 
He  was  dismissed  in  1760.  He  died  in  Brunswick,  June  26,  1776. 
History  of  Brunswick,  728. 

Rev.  John  Miller,  of  Milton,  Mass.,  was  engaged  in  Brunswick, 
December,  1761,  and  installed  as  pastor  the  next  year,  and  contin- 
ued his  ministry  there  about  twenty-four  years.  He  died  in  Boston 
in  1788.     History  of  Brunswick,  773. 

Rev.  Ebenezer  Coffin  was  ordained  as  pastor  of  the  church  in 
Brunswick  in  January,  1794.  He  continued  his  ministry  there  about 
eight  years. 


376      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

accepted,  and  of  the  spiritual  power  of  the  Church 
in  the  last  century,  —  the  records  give  us  less  in- 
formation than  they  do  of  the  votes  passed  to 
determine  the  location  of  the  meeting-house,  or 
the  salary  of  the  minister.  We  should  like  to 
know  more  than  we  do  of  the  religious  life  of  the 
people  who  lived  in  those  times  of  simplicity  and  of 
comparative  poverty.  In  respect  to  these  matters, 
the  indirect  evidence  is  more  abundant  than  that 
which  is  direct. 

IV. 

One  thing  which  affected  the  religious  life  in 
Brunswick  was  the  connection  of  the  Church  with 
the  state.     It  is  not  quite  certain  that 
Church  and       the  church  had   been  organized  w^hen 
state.  j^^^  Rutherford  became  the  minister, 

by  vote  of  the  town  of  Brunswick,  or  even  when 
Mr.  Dunlap  began  his  ministry.  The  people  of 
the  town  called  the  minister  by  vote  in  town- 
meetino;.  The  contract  was  made  between  the 
town  and  the  minister.  His  salary  was  raised  by 
a  tax,  levied  upon  all  the  rate-payers.  After  the 
church  was  organized,  it  had  the  right,  under  the 
laws  of  Massachusetts,  to  choose  its  minister,  and 
the  town  had  the  right  to  accept  or  reject  the 
candidate  whom  the  church  had  selected.  The 
laws  required  that  every  town  should  be  con- 
stantly provided  with  a  minister,  and  if  it  should 


BRUNSWICK,  MAINE,  IN  THE  18TH  CENTURY.         377 

neglect  for  six  months  to  secure  an  "  able,  learned, 
and  orthodox  minister,  of  good  conversation,"  the 
town  was  liable  to  be  prosecuted  and  fined  for 
such  neglect.  Brunswick  was  prosecuted  and 
fined  in  1810  under  that  law.  It  was  not  always 
easy  for  the  church  and  the  town  to  agree  in  the 
choice  of  a  minister.  In  a  good  many  instances 
the  minister  who  had  been  chosen  by  the  church 
was  rejected  by  the  town.  In  1786,  the  town 
voted  to  dismiss  the  pastor,  but  the  church  voted 
to  retain  him.  Whereupon,  the  town  voted  not 
to  raise  any  money  for  his  support. 

There  was  always  more  or  less  trouble  in 
collecting  the  tax  levied  for  the  support  of  the 
pastor.  Twenty-one  persons  were  sent  to  jail,  in 
a  parish  not  far  from  Brunswick,  because  they 
refused  to  pay  the  tax  assessed  upon  them  for  the 
support  of  the  minister  of  the  town.-^ 

The  connection  of  Church  and  state  did  not 
w^ork  as  well  in  Maine  as  it  had  done  in  Massa- 
chusetts. It  was  not  as  easy  to  continue  that 
connection  after  the  Revolution,  as  it  had  been 
before.  The  growth  of  a  spirit  of  personal  inde- 
pendence, under  a  republican  government,  and  the 
increasing  diversity  of  religious  opinions,  made  it 
a  hard  matter  for  a  church  and  a  town  to  get  on 
with  harmony  and  good  feeling  in  the  support  of 
religious  institutions.     So  that  the  time  came,  in 

1  Mr.  Harlow's  Address  at  Cape  Elizabeth. 


378      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

the  natural  course  of  events,  when  the  connection 
which  had  existed  so  long  became  a  hindrance  to 
the  prosperity  of  religion  in  the  town. 


V. 

The  difference  of  opinion  in  respect  to  Church 
government  was  also  a  great  obstacle  to  the  pros- 
perity of  religion  in  Brunswick.  The  first  church 
congrega-  ^as  probably  organized  as  a  Presby- 
preS):^Sian*-  tcriau  church,  and  in  its  earlier  history 
ism.  ii;  ^yas  connected  with  the  Presbytery  of 

Londonderry.  Mr.  Dunlap  was  a  Presbyterian 
from  mature  conviction,  as  well  as  by  his  training. 
The  people  in  the  west  part  of  the  town  were,  for 
the  most  part,  Scotch- Irish  Presbyterians,  while 
those  at  New  Meadows  were  Congregationalists. 
The  Presbyterians  were  the  more  decided  in  their 
preferences,  because  that  had  been  the  polity  of 
their  fathers.  The  Congregationalists  were  not 
disposed  to  yield,  because  New  England  was  full 
of  churches  of  their  order,  and  theirs  was,  in  some 
sort,  the  State  Church.  There  were  never  more 
than  ten  Presbyterian  churches  in  Maine  at  one 
time,  while  the  Congregational  churches  in  the 
district  greatly  outnumbered  them.  In  a  small 
town  on  the  frontier,  a  hundred  years  ago,  the 
questions  between  these  denominations  seemed 
more  important  than  they  seem  to  us  at  this  time. 


BRUNSWICK,  MAINE,  IN  THE  18TH  CENTURY.         379 

Nevertheless,  there  was  a  spirit  of  conciliation.    In 
1774,  the  church  in  Brunswick  voted  that  the  Sac- 
rament of  the  Lord's  Supper  should  be  adminis- 
tered "  at  the  West  meeting-house  from  the  long 
table,  the  communicants  sitting  around  it,  or  in 
the  body-pews,  as  they  might  see  fit ; "  and  that  in 
the  East  meeting-house  it  should  be  according  to 
"  the  Congregational  form."     "  Baptism  was  to  be 
in  either  form,  as  persons  might  choose."     There 
was  a  difference  in  respect  to  singing,  and,  in  1786, 
the  town  voted  "  to  allow  the  people  at  the  East- 
end  to   regulate  the  way  of   singing  in   Divine 
service  in  the  East-end  as  they  shall  think  proper." 
The  same  year,  the  church  voted  against  the  new 
way  of  singing  adopted  at  the  East-end  of  the 
town,  and  directed  that  the  psalms  and  hymns 
should  be  read  by  the  deacon,  Une  by  line.     Some 
in  the  church  desired  to  have  ruling  elders  ap- 
pointed, while   others  wished  to   have   deacons. 
The  discipline  of  the  church  suffered  on  account 
of  these  disagreements,  and  the  relation  between 
pastor  and  people  was  sometimes  weakened  by 
them.     But,  as  the  larger  number  of  those  who 
came  to  Brunswick  from  other  places  were  Con- 
gregationalists,  the   Presbyterians  gradually  lost 
the  control,  and,  by  the  end  of  the  century,  the 
church  had  become  to  all  intents  a  Congregational 
church.     This  tendency  was  strengthened  by  the 
establishment  of  Bowdoin  College. 


380      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 


VI. 

Through  all  this  period  Brunswick  was  but  a 
modest  and  obscure  settlement  among  the  pines. 
On  every  side  except  the  river,  the  dwellings  stood 
close  ujD  to  the  forest,  which  stretched  away  for 
miles.  The  principal  business  of  the  place  was 
the  trade  in  lumber.^  The  people  commonly 
Condition  of  wcnt  on  foot  to  the  church.  Some  of 
the  People.  thosc  who  Hvcd  at  a  distance  owned  a 
horse,  a  saddle,  and  a  pillion,  which  would  accom- 
modate a  man,  his  wife,  and  one  or  two  children. 
It  is  a  matter  of  dispute  whether  there  were  two 
or  three  wheeled  chaises  in  town  before  the 
Revolution.  The  New  England  meeting-houses 
were  not  warmed  in  the  last  century,  and  those  in 
these  northern  regions  were  not  lighted.  The 
people  who  came  in  from  their  long  walk  through 
the  snow  were  a  strong  and  hardy  race,  else  they 
could  not  have  endured  the  cold,  as  they  sat,  in 
this  unlinished  house,  through  the  long  services. 
The  services  in  those  days  were  held  in  the  day 
time. 

But  through  all  this  period  of  hardship  and 
poverty  the  church  continued  to  grow  and  to 
prosper.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  pub- 
lic worship  was  maintained  with  a  good  measure 

1  History  of  Bowdoin  College,  2,  83. 


BRUNSWICK,  MAINE,  IN  THE  18TH  CENTURY.         38 1 

of  regularity,  —  that  the  sacraments  of  the  Church 
were  administered,  and  that  the  standard  of 
piety  was  a  hio^h  one.      We  have  the 

f  ^  1111         Growth  and 

names  ot  more  than    a   hundred  who  Prosperity  of 

were    members    of   the   church    before 

the    year   1800,    and    the   list    is    known    to    be 

incomplete. 

The  service  of  song  in  the  last  century  was 
more  simple  than  it  is  now.  The  num-  The  service 
ber  of  tunes  used  in  public  worship  was  ^^  ^°"^- 
very  limited,  and  there  was  probably  no  instru- 
mental music  in  the  earlier  years.  The  choirs 
were  large  in  those  days,  and  the  chorister  was 
a  person  of  great  importance.  In  1763,  the 
church  voted  to  use  "  the  version  of  the  psalms 
by  Tate  and  Brad}^  with  the  hymns  of  Dr.  Watts 
annexed  thereto." 

VII. 

The  ministers  of  those  times  had  a  position  in 
the  community  very  different  from  that  of  their 
successors  in  this  century.  They  were  still  settled 
for  life.  The  towns  were  required  by  law  to  pay 
their  salaries.  They  were  distinguished  from 
other  people  by  their  dress  and  their  The  Ministers 
manners.  The  description  of  Rev.  of  those  Days. 
Samuel  Eaton,  minister  in  Harpswell  from  1764 
to  1822,  by  Professor  Alpheus  S.  Packard,  is  very 
graphic.     "  He   was    above  the   average    stature, 


382       THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

with  a  large  frame,  and  full  habit.  His  entrance 
into  the  church,  on  the  Sabbath,  and  his  stately 
progress  up  the  broad  aisle,  —  bowing  to  the 
sitters  on  each  side,  according  to  the  custom  of 
those  days,  always  attracted  attention.  He  wore 
a  broad  skirted  coat,  with  wide  pocket  flaps,  a 
waistcoat  flaring  in  front,  and  falling  to  the  knees, 
breeches,  high  shoes  with  large  plated  buckles, 
—  the  whole  surmounted  with  a  capacious  wig  and 
a  cocked  hat."  ^ 

Yet  those  ministers,  with  all  their  dignity,  and 
stateliness,  had  a  great  deal  of  human  nature 
about  them.  They  put  on  their  courtly  manners, 
according  to  the  customs  of  their  time,  but  there 
was  genuine  manhood  underneath  the  manners. 
The  pictures  of  President  McKeen  which  we  are 
accustomed  to  see,  represent  him  in  the  dress  of 
his  times,  with  his  long  hair  gathered  in  a  queue. 
He  was  the  pastor  of  the  church  in  Beverly,  Mas- 
sachusetts, from  1785  to  1802.  He  was  above  the 
ordinary  stature,  and  of  commanding  appearance, 
and  dignified  manners.  In  the  earlier  years  of 
his  ministry,  he  was  fond  of  athletic  sports.  One 
day  a  visitor  at  his  house  in  Beverly  was  boasting 
of  his  strength  and  skill  as  a  wrestler ;  whereupon 
the  minister  invited  him  to  retire  to  a  suitable 
place  that  they  might  both  test  their  abilities  in 
that  line.     The  proposal  was  accepted,  and  they 

1  Sprague's  Annals,  vol.  i.  Samuel  Eaton. 


BRUNSWICK,  MAINE,  IN  THE  18TH  CENTURY.         383 

went  out.  But  the  minister  was  too  much  for  the 
athlete  and,  after  repeated  falls,  he  acknowledged 
that  the  pastor  was  the  better  man.  ^ 

The  use  of  intoxicating  drinks  was  more  com- 
mon in  those  days  than  now.  Parson  Smith 
speaks  of  an  ordination  at  New  Gloucester,  in 
1765,  as  a  "jolly  ordination."  He  says,  "  We  lost 
sight  of  decorum."  The  progress  of  the  ministers 
toward  the  practice  of  total  abstinence  from  strong 
drink  was  slow.  It  was  not  till  1813  that  the 
Cumberland  Association  voted  that  "  there  be  no 
ardent  spirits  used  by  the  Association  as  a  body 
in  future."  ^  That  vote  casts  a  suo:Qrestive  back- 
light  upon  the  social  customs  of  our  clerical 
fathers. 

VIII. 

What  were  the  religious  teachings  in  the  old 
meeting-houses  } 

We  have  a  good  many  sources  of  information. 
In  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  the 
opinions  that  had  been  held  by  the  older  Puritans 
had  been  modified,  partly  through  the  influence 
of  President  Edwards,  and  the  divines  of  his  school, 
and  a  more  liberal,  and,  as  we  think,  a  more 
Biblical,  theology  began  to  be  preached.  Mr. 
Dunlap  had  been  trained  in  the  more  rigid  Scot- 

1  Sprague's  Annals,  vol.  ii.  Joseph  McKeen. 

2  Centennial  Pamphlet,  Cumberland  Association,  24,  33. 


384      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

tish  School.  He  is  said  to  have  been  vehement, 
and  persuasive  in  his  style  of  preaching,  and  to 
have  taken  the  celebrated  Mr.  Whitefield,  whom 
he  had  met  soon  after  his  arrival  in  this  country, 
as  his  model.  But  his  successor,  Mr.  Miller,  was 
a  decided  Congregationalist,  and  he  probably 
preached  the  New  England  theology.  He  is  said 
to  have  been  very  charitable  in  his  treatment  of 
those  who  differed  with  him  in  religious  matters. 
All  the  ministers  of  the  church  in 
Views  of  the  Brunswick  during  the  last  century  were 
'^'''''-  Calvinists  (except  possibly,  Mr.  Coffin), 
and  they  gave  their  people  the  strong  meat  of  the 
Gospel. 

That  was  before  the  time  of  Sunday-schools 
in  New  England.  The  children  were  taught  the 
catechism  at  home,  and  in  the  day-schools.  They 
were  also  catechised  by  their  pastors.  The  Bible 
was  carefully  taught  to  the  children,  in  the  last 
century,  by  their  fathers  and  mothers ;  and  it  is 
not  certain  but  they  had  a  better  knowledge  of 
the  Scriptures,  and  of  the  religious  truths  which 
they  teach,  than  the  children  of  our  own  times. 


IX. 

The  methods  of  pastoral  visiting  in  the  last 
century  were  more  systematic  and  thorough  than 
those  to  which  we  have  been  accustomed.     The 


BRUNSWICK,  MAINE,  IN  THE  18TH  CENTURY.         385 


ministers  were  expected  to  go  from  house  to 
house,  and  teach  reHgious  truths  to  the  people, 
especially  to  the  young  people.  They  pastoral 
were  also  in  the  habit  of  conversing  ^^'^^• 
with  each  individual  in  regard  to  his  religious 
duties,  and  to  use  their  personal  influence  to  lead 
them  forward  in  a  religious  life.  Here  is  a  record 
made  by  a  pastor  in  Maine  of  his  method  of  pas- 
toral visiting  in  1766,  and  preserved  for  us  in 
Greenleaf's  Ecclesiastical  Sketches:  "First  to 
salute  the  house  : —compare  the  lists  with  the 
family :   and  note  how  many  know  the  catechism, 

how  many  have  taken  the  covenant,  —  and  how 

many  are  church  members.  Then,  to  exhort  the 
young  people  to  give  attendance  to  reading,  —  to 
secret  prayer,  —  to  public  worship,  —  the  obser- 
vance of  the  Sabbath,  — to  live  peaceable  and 
faithful  lives,  —  to  seek  the  grace  of  God,  and  a 
true  conversion.  To  address  parents  about  their 
spiritual  state,  —  secret  devotions,  —  family  wor- 
ship, —  government,  —  catechising,  —  public  wor- 
ship, —  the  sacraments,  —  if  they  are  church 
members,  see  to  what  profit,  —  if  in  error  or 
vice,  to  reclaim,  — if  in  divisions,  heal,  —  if  poor, 
help,  —  lastly,  pray  with  them  all."^ 

It  is  not  surprising  that  the  pastor  who  followed 
that  method,  relates  that  after  a  few  months  of 
that  sort  of  work,  there  was  a  general  revival  of 

1  Greenleaf's  Sketches,  1335  note. 
25 


386       THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

religion  in  the  town :  "  A  solemn,  sweet,  and 
glorious  season,"  that  "  many  of  God's  people 
Revivals  of  were  filled  with  the  joy  of  the  Lord, 
Reugion.  ^^^   ^Yi2it  many  were  brought    to  see 

their  need  of  that  Saviour  whom  they  had  shame- 
fully neglected,  and  wickedly  crucified."  It  is 
not  surprising  that  this  work  of  grace  extended 
into  the  adjoining  towns. 

The  revivals  of  religion,  during  the  latter  part 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  were  very  wonderful. 
I  have  read  of  a  work  of  grace  in  Harps  well, 
Maine,  in  1756,  which  brought  sixty-seven 
persons  into  the  church,  in  that  small  community; 
of  another,  in  North  Yarmouth,  in  1791,  which 
pervaded  the  whole  town,  and  brought  one 
hundred  and  fifty  into  the  church  ;  of  another 
in  New  Gloucester,  in  1791,  which  was  exceedingly 
powerful.^  These  revivals  were  all  in  the  vicinity 
of  Brunswick.  It  is  well  known  that  the  last 
years  of  the  last  century,  and  the  earliest  years  in 
this,  were  marked  by  very  thorough  and  extended 
revivals  of  religion  in  all  parts  of  New  England. 

The  establishment  of  Bowdoin  College  at 
Brunswick  has  had  a  great  influence  upon  the 
church.  The  first  building  for  the  College  was 
erected  in  1798.  It  was  ready  for  use  in  1802, 
at  which  time  a  house  was  erected  for  the  Presi- 
dent.    The   first   class  was  graduated    in    1806. 

1  Greenleaf's  Sketches,  69-70,  66-67,  1 19-120. 


BRUNSWICK,  MAINE,  IN  THE  18TH  CENTURY.         387 

President  McKeen  (elected  1801)  used  to  preach 
on  Sunday,  either  in  the  meeting-house  of  the 
First  Parish,  or  in  the  College  chapel.  From 
that  time  to  the  present,  there  has  been  a  close 
connection  between  the  College  and  the  church. 
This  connection  has  given  to  the  church  a  great 
increase  of  influence  and  of  usefulness. 


X. 

If  I  were  asked  to  state  the  essential  and 
permanent  qualities  in  the  religious  life  of  New 
England,  during  the  eighteenth  century,  I 
should  answer :  To-day  is  the  child  of  yester- 
day, —  this  century  is  the  child  of  the  last 
century.  New  England  owes  its  spe-  The  permanent 
cial  characteristics  to  the  Pilscrims  and  Q^^^uties  of  the 

^  Religious  Life 

the  Puritans.  The  religious  life  into  of  that  century, 
which  we  have  entered  is  a  continuation  of 
that  of  our  fathers.  They  planted  the  seed,  and 
we  are  reaping  the  harvests.  If  we  have  made 
some  improvements  in  theology,  so  did  they.  If 
we  have  entered  into  the  work  of  reform,  so  did 
they.  If  we  have  been  favored  with  revivals  of 
religion,  so  were  they.  Our  Bible  and  Tract 
Societies,  our  societies  for  Home,  and  Foreign 
Missions,  which  grew  up  in  New  England  in  the 
earlier  decades  of  this  century,  are  the  results  of 
their    religious    training    and    example.      That 


388      THE  PURITAN  IN  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND. 

which  we  are  doing,  with  our  more  abundant 
means,  and  our  more  fortunate  environment,  to 
make  human  life  sweeter,  and  purer,  and  to  make 
the  world  freer  and  happier,  and  to  enlarge  the 
kingdom  of  Christ  among  men, —  much  of  this  is 
the  flowering  and  fruitage  from  the  planting  of 
our  fathers,  who  in  the  great  straitness  of  their 
lives,  with  much  self-denial,  and  with  devout 
prayer  laid  the  foundations  of  our  free  Christian 
Commonwealths.  The  Pilgrims  and  the  Puritans 
did  not  live  in  vain.  Their  influence  has  gone 
out  into  all  the  earth.  We  are  drinking  at  the 
fountains  which  they  opened.  We  walk  in  their 
light,  and  we  are  to  pass  on  the  torch  to  other 
generations. 


Index. 


Index. 


Abbott,  George,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  48;  one  of  the  trans- 
lators of  the  Bible,  favors  the  Puritans,  48;  seeks  to  make 
peace  in  the  Church,  49. 

Afternoon  Service  of  Worship  in  Puritan  Churches,  154. 

Agreement  at  Cambridge,  England,  71. 

Alden,  John,  242  ;  his  new  home,  245  ;  marriage,  246. 

Amusements  of  the  Pilgrims  and  Puritans,  262;  games  of 
chance  forbidden,  dancing,  262 ;  simple  rustic  pleasures,  263  ; 
Harvest  Festival  at  Plymouth,  263;  not  religious,  264;  training 
days  in  Boston,  264 ;  guests  at  the  house  of  the  Governor,  din- 
ner parties  described  in  the  Diary  of  Judge  Sewall,  264;  Com- 
mencement week,  264 ;  Hawthorne's  Scarlet  Letter,  265. 

Association,  Hampshire,  of  ministers,  337;  members  of,  337; 
receives  charges  against  Mr.  Breck,  344;  advises  against  his 
settlement,  348  ;  provides  for  an  investigation  of  the  charges, 
349  ;  opposes  the  installation,  356. 

Augustine  Quoted,  208. 

Awakening,  The  Great,  314;  influence  of,  338;  connection  of 
the  New  Divinity  with  the  revival,  339. 

Bacon,  Dr.  Leonard,  8s,  90. 

Bacon,  Lord,  on  reform  of  Church,  35,  37. 

Banishment  of  Roger  Williams,  171,  173;  the  sentence  re- 
voked, 173. 

Baptism  of  Children,  153-154;  church  membership  of  chil- 
dren, 308  ;  consequence  of  this  doctrine,  309. 

Bay  Colony,  The,  102-103. 

Bay-Path,  191. 

Bay  Psalm  Book,  150. 

Bible,  love  for,  and  obedience  to,  118  ;  not  read  in  public  without 
exposition,  163. 


392  INDEX. 


Blue  Laws  of  Connecticut,  251;  the  invention  of  Samuel 
Peters,  252  ;  his  book,  252. 

Body  of  Liberties,  255. 

Books  introduced  from  the  Continent,  21. 

Bradford,  Governor  William,  58,  90,  159,  233,  244. 

Breck,  Rev.  Robert,  Ancestry,  342 ;  graduated  at  Harvard, 
approved  by  the  Faculty,  343  ;  began  to  preach  in  Connecticut, 
called  to  Springfield,  343 ;  opposition  to  his  settlement,  344  ; 
charges  against  him,  344-345  ;  his  reply  to  the  charges,  346 ; 
declines  the  call,  347 ;  returns  to  Boston,  347  ;  advice  of  the 
Association  to  the  Church,  348  ;  Mr.  Breck  again  invited  to 
preach  in  Springfield,  349;  action  of  the  Association,  349;  ob- 
jections to  the  method  of  investigation,  350;  the  second  call  of 
the  church,  351 ;  certificate  from  the  ministers  of  Boston,  352  ; 
accepts  the  call,  352;  his  Confession  of  Faith,  360;  arrest  and 
removal  to  Connecticut,  358;  return,  360;  is  ordained,  364; 
marriage,  367 ;  his  hfe  and  work  as  a  pastor,  367  ;  his  funeral 
sermon,  368. 

Brewster,  Elder  William,  52,  90,  105, 124,  244-245  ;  his  dress, 
259;  furniture,  260. 

Brooks,  Phillips,  275. 

Browne,  Robert,  views  of,  22-24 ;  pastor  of  the  Separatist 
Church,  persecuted,  24 ;  returns  to  the  Established  Church, 
24. 

Brunswick,  Maine,  372;  early  provision  for  preaching,  373; 
reasons  for  seeking  a  charter,  373;  Church  and  State,  376; 
condition  of  the  town,  380  ;  founding  of  Bowdoin  College, 
374,  388. 

Burr,  John,  194. 

Cable,  John,  190. 

Calvinism,  Preached  in  New  England,  321  ;  influence  of, 
322;  strong  type  of  Christian  character,  322;  defenders  of 
liberty,  323  ;  vigorous  type  of  manhood,  323;  small  number 
of  church  members,  324  ;  children  of  the  Puritans  not  members 
of  their  churches,  325  ;  "unfruitfulness  of  the  means  of  grace," 
326;  compared  with  results  of  modern  preaching,  326;  frequent 
religious  declensions,  327;  testimony  of  Prince,  327;  Salem 
Witchcraft,  327;  dissensions  in  the  churches,  328;  growth  of 
Arminianism,  328;  influence  of  the  Edwardean  theology,  329; 
successors  of  Edwards,  331  ;  New  England  Theology,  331. 

Calvinism  tends  toward  Liberty  and  Democracy,  41,  222. 


INDEX.  393 


Calvinistic  Doctrines  of  the  Puritans,  41 ;  Synod  of  Dort,  284 ; 
teachings  from  Geneva,  285. 

Cambridge  Agreement,  1629,  71,  179,  186. 

Cambridge  Platform,  107,  341. 

Cambridge  Synod  of  1646,  107  ;  called  by  the  General  Court  of 
Mass.,  178  ;  contained  delegates  from  the  other  colonies,  179; 
adopts  the  Cambridge  Platform,  179  ;  accepts  the  Westminster 
Confession,  291. 

Cambridge  the  Puritan  University,  121. 

Carver,  Governor  John,  90. 

Catholic  powers  unfriendly  to  Ehzabeth,  31 ;  the  Spanish 
Armada,  31,  42;  St.  Bartholomew,  32;  Duke  of  Alva,  32; 
Thirty  Years  War,  34,  50. 

Charles  the  First,  59  ;  his  first  Parliament,  60  ;  the  Petition  of 
Right,  61;  demands  forced  loans,  63;  his  tyranny,  69-70; 
grants  the  charter  of  Massachusetts,  70;  demands  ship  money, 
72,  74;  the  Long  Parliament,  71,  74,  75. 

Charter  of  Colony  of  Massachusetts,  70,  188. 

Church  and  State  in  England,  39. 

Church  and  State  in  Maine,  376;  the  minister  paid  by  the 
town,  376;  trouble  in  collecting  the  tax,  377;  increase  of  inde- 
pendence after  the  Revolution,  377  ;  towns  required  to  pay 
the  salaries,  381. 

Church  and  State  in  Massachusetts,  339;  qualifications  of 
ministers,  339;  method  of  choosing  a  minister,  340;  the  salary 
to  be  raised  by  a  tax,  340 ;  the  General  Court  to  select  a  minister 
if  the  town  neglects,  341  ;  the  Cambridge  Platform,  341 ;  ques- 
tions that  frequently  caused  divisions,  342. 

Churches,  Independent,  94;  model  of  Scrooby,  158;  Plymouth 
Church,  158;  Salem,  159;  officers  of,  160,  287. 

Coffee  not  used,  139. 

Coffin,  Rev.  Ebenezer,  of  Brunswick,  note  on  his  Hfe,  375;  his 
religious  views,  384. 

Committee  of  Religion,  74. 

Common  Schools,  reasons  for,  248  ;  Governor  of  Virginia  dislikes, 
248;  schools  in  the  Dutch  Republic,  248;  in  Plymouth,  249; 
Boston,  general  law,  250  ;  schools  in  New  Haven,  250;  Hart- 
ford; influence  of,  250. 

Comparison  of  the  Pilgrims  with  the  Puritans,  85,  112;  why 
the  Pilgrims  came,  83  ;  why  the  Puritans  came,  83  ;  difference 
in  date  of  settlement,  Zd-,  Separatists  and  Non-Conformists, 
87;  social  position  of  the  Pilgrims,  89;  of  the  Puritans,  90; 


394 


INDEX. 


objects  of  the  Pilgrim  Colony,  91,  102 ;  objects  of  the  Puritans, 
92;  government  of  the  Pilgrim  Colony,  98,  99  ;  government  of 
the  Puritan  Colony,  100;  numbers  and  wealth,  loi  ;  ministry 
at  Plymouth,  104;  confederacy  of  the  colonies  of  New  Eng- 
land, 108;  legislation  in  the  two  colonies,  1 09-1 12. 

Confederacy  of  New  England  Colonies,  108. 

Connecticut  River  Joint  Commission,  193. 

Connecticut  Settled,  169-193,  240. 

Contributions  on  the  Sabbath,  155. 

Cooper,  Rev.  William,  member  of  the  Council  at  Springfield, 
353  ;  moderator  of  the  Council,  356;  speaks  before  the  General 
Court,  363 ;  preaches  the  sermon,  364 ;  writes  one  of  the  pam- 
phlets, 366. 

Cotton,  John,  100,  106,  108,  121  ;  scholarship,  122,  127,  132  ;  mid- 
week lectures,  156,  213,  267  ;  Catechism,  2S6. 

Council  at  Springfield,  called,  352;  members,  353;  its  regu- 
larity questioned,  353-354;  meets  in  Springfield,  356;  remon- 
strances presented,  356  ;  testimony  given,  357  ;  arrest  of  Mr. 
Breck,  357 ;  protest  from  the  Council,  358  ;  he  is  sent  to  Con- 
necticut, 359;  meets  the  next  day,  359  ;  return  of  Mr.  Breck, 
360  ;  his  statement  of  belief,  360-361  ;  result  of  the  Council, 
361;  adjournment,  362  ;  re-assembles,  364 ;  ordains  Mr.  Breck, 

364- 
Court  of  Mr.  Pynchon,  196. 
Court  of  General  Sessions  at  Springfield,  355 ;  arrest  of  Mr. 

Breck,  357  ;  examination  as  to  his  religious  views,  358  ;  sends 

him  to  Connecticut,  359  ;   investigates  complaint  against  the 

Church  in  Springfield,  365. 
Courtship  of  Miles  Standish,  242-246;    poetic  license,  242; 

its  historic  basis,  characters  from  real  life,  243. 
Cranfield,  Governor,  119. 
Creeds  of  the  Churches,  287 ;   grew  out  of  covenants,  287  ; 

creed  of  the  Church  in  Salem,  288. 
Cromwell  proposes  to  remove  to  America,  70 ;  Lord  Saye  and 

Sele,  Lord  Warwick,  and  other  Puritan  noblemen,  70. 
Culture  of  the  Puritans,  78,  79,  222-225. 
Cushman,  Elder,  105. 

Davenport,  John,  124, 127;  pastorof  the  Old  South  in  Boston,  311. 
Decline  of  Protestant  Power  in  Europe,  33. 
Descendants   from  the  Puritans  of  the  seventh  generation, 
273-277. 


INDEX.  395 


Dexter,  Dr.  Henry  M.,  24. 
Dignifying  the  Seats,  143. 
Dress  of  the  Colonists,  258 ;  dress  of  officials,  258  ;  portraits 

of  Puritans,  126,  258;  laws  against  extravagance,  259;  dress 

of  Elder  Brewster,  259. 
Druillette,  Father  Gabriel,  a  Jesuit  missionary,  268  ;  sent  to 

Boston,  269 ;  to  Plymouth,  270 ;  visits  the  Apostle  Eliot,  270. 
Dudley,  Thomas,  185,  203. 
DuNLAP,  Rev.  Robert,  of  Brunswick,  birthplace,  374  and  note, 

also,  375;  salary  paid  by  the  town,  376;  a  Presbyterian,  378; 

manners  and  theological  views,  383. 
Dwellings  of  Ministers,  135. 

Eastern  Counties  of  England,  full  of  Puritans,  33. 

Eaton,  Rev.  Samuel,  of  Harps  well,  381. 

Edward  the  Sixth,  a  Protestant  king,  11  ;  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,  11,  13. 

Edwards,  President  Jonathan,  133,  299;  revival  under  the 
preaching  of,  313;  new  divinity,  314;  the  younger  Edwards, 
328;  improvements  in  theology  by  President  Edwards,  329  ;  in- 
fluence upon  the  theology  of  New  England,  330 ;  influence  in 
the  Connecticut  Valley,  337,  338. 

Eighteenth  Century  in  New  England,  371 ;  difference  be- 
tween the  settlement  of  Northern  New  England  and  Southern, 
372  ;  mingling  of  nationalities,  372. 

Eliot,  John,  record  concerning  Mr.  Pynchon,  note,  213;  receives 
Father  Druillette,  271. 

Elizabeth,  a  Protestant  Queen,  12;  Act  of  Supremacy,  13,  16  ; 
Act  of  Uniformity,  13  ;  Court  of  High  Commission,  16-19,  64; 
increased  severity  against  Non-Conformists,  16  ;  Whitgift,  18  ; 
subscription  to  the  Thirty-nine  Articles  required,  19  ;  growth 
of  Puritanism,  30 ;  death  of  the  Queen,  30 ;  character,  40. 

Elizabeth,  compared  with  Victoria,  235. 

Endicott,  Governor  John,  96,  203. 

Estimate  of  the  Puritans  by  English  historians  :  Macaulay, 
3;  Hallam,  Hume,  Carlyle,  3;  John  Richard  Green,  xxxvi,  xl, 
14,  41,  44,  221. 

Excommunication  of  Non-Conformists,  65. 


Farmers,  early  ministers  were,  133. 
Food  in  early  Puritan  times,  137. 
Freedom  of  Religion  in  Holland,  53. 


396  INDEX. 


French  of  Canada,  265,   Roman  Catholics,  266;   visits  of  La 

Tour,  1643  and  1646,  267;  Druillette,  268. 
Fuller,  Dr.  Samuel,  96,  97. 
Funerals,  methods  of  conducting,  164. 
Furniture  of  the  Pilgrims  and  Puritans,  135;  inventory  of 

the  furniture  of  Elder  Brewster,  260;  inventory  of  household 

goods  of   Governor   John   Winthrop,    260 ;   of  Mrs.  Martha 

Coytmore,  261. 

General  Court  of  Massachusetts,  considers  the  complaint  of 
the  Church  of  Springfield,  363  ;  decides  that  the  Council  was 
regular  and  legal,  363  ;  that  the  magistrates  had  no  right  to 
interfere,  364. 

Gown  and  Bands  in  the  pulpit,  126. 

Grasmere  Parish  Church  (England),  note,  146. 

Habeas  Corpus,  Writ  of,  insisted  on,  62  ;  refused,  63. 

Half-Way  Covenant,  306;  arose  from  regard  for  children,  a 
survival  from  the  Church  of  England,  306  ;  "  Unseparated 
Churches,"  306 ;  the  grace  of  the  Covenant,  307  ;  why  children 
were  baptized,  308;  small  number  in  the  Churches  in  "full 
Communion,"  308  ;  who  are  the  subjects  of  baptism  ?  310;  de- 
cision of  the  first  Council,  309;  the  Synod  of  1662,  309;  its 
decision,  310;  dissent  from  these  views,  310;  Synodists  and 
Antisynodists,  31 1 ;  leaders  on  the  two  sides  ;  call  of  Mr.  Dav- 
enport to  Boston,  311 ;  the  Half-Way  Covenant  modified,  312; 
reliance  on  outward  forms,  313;  the  Lord's  Supper  a  con- 
verting ordinance,  313;  results  of  these  doctrines,  314,  336. 

Harvard  College,  103,  125,  [32. 

Harvard,  John,  124. 

Harvest  Festival  at  Plymouth,  263  ;  wild  game,  exercise  of 
arms,  263;  the  Indians  feasted,  264;  not  a  religious  festival, 
264. 

Henry  the  Eighth,  Defender  of  the  Faith,  10 ;  law  of  the  Six 
Articles,  10;  Progress  of  the  Reformation,  11. 

Higginson,  Francis,  88,  122,  158. 

High  Church  Party  in  England,  42 ;  reactionary  party  in  the 
Church,  43 ;  the  Real  Presence  in  the  Sacrament  advocated,  59. 

Hingham  Meeting-House,  141. 

Historians  on  the  Puritans:  Macaulay,  3,  43;  Hallam,  3; 
Hume,  3;  Carlyle,  3;  Green,  14,41,  221 ;  Bancroft,  58;  Camp- 
bell, 41. 


INDEX.  397 


Historic  Genealogical  Society  of  New  England,  its  ne- 
crology for  1893,  1894,  and  1895,  274,  276. 

Holland,  Influence  of,  xxxvii,  99,  109. 

Hooker's  Ecclesiastical  Polity,  43. 

Hooker,  Thomas,  graduated  at  the  University  at  Cambridge, 
125;  invited  to  sit  in  the  Westminster  Assembly,  127;  letter 
on  the  suffrage,  168;  sermon,  169;  his  published  works,  289, 
299 ;  Grace  is  free,  300  ;  The  Free  Will,  300  ;  depravity,  301  ; 
Redemption,  301 ;  free  invitations,  302. 

Hopkins,  Samuel,  130. 

Hospitality  of  the  Puritans,  266 ;  the  two  Friars,  267 ;  the 
Lord's-day,  267;  second  company  of  Frenchmen,  267  ;  enter- 
tained at  the  house  of  the  Governor,  268;  taken  to  the  meeting- 
house, 268  ;  Father  Gabriel  Druiilette,  the  Jesuit  Missionary, 
268-269  ;  visit  to  Plymouth,  a  fish  dinner  on  Friday,  270 ;  visits 
the  Apostle  EHot,  270. 

House  of  Commons  investigates  abuses,  34,  45  ;  refuses  to  vote 
supplies  without  redress  of  abuses,  62. 

Hutchinson,  Mrs.  Anne,  289 ;  banished,  290. 

Hutchinson,  Colonel  John,  of  Owthorpe,  "jZ  ;  personal  descrip- 
tion, 222;  love  of  art,  223;  respect  for  woman,  hatred  of  per- 
secution, conjugal  affection,  223;  love  of  a  miHtary  life,  224; 
saves  the  life  of  Cromwell,  224  ;  dies  in  prison,  224. 

Huguenots,  33. 

Independent  Churches,  158. 

Indians,  conversion  of,  91;  their  marks  as  signatures  to  a  deed, 
193  ;  friendly  relations,  199  ;  their  independence  recognized,  199. 

James  the  First,  his  character,  35,  yj,  38,  40;  claims  unlimited 
power,  40,  46;  his  first  Pariiament,  45;  second  Parliament,  47; 
third  Parliament,  48;  Journals  of  the  Commons,  48;  Book  of 
Sports,  49,  6^:)  ;  his  French  Alliance,  50. 

Johnson,  Isaac,  186. 

Judgment,  Day  of,  120. 

Lambeth  House,  Conference,  36,  44. 

La  Tour  visits  Boston,  266-267  ;  welcomed,  saluted  at  his  depar- 
ture, 268. 

Laud,  Bishop  of  London,  59,  64;  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  64, 
66,74;  suppresses  Puritan  Lectureships,  64;  feoffments,  65; 
committed  to  the  tower,  74. 


398  INDEX. 


Legislation  of  Massachusetts,  109,  in  ;  in  respect  to  heretics, 
203  ;  tended  toward  democracy,  256;  regulated  the  sale  of  in- 
toxicating drinks,  256. 

Legislation  of  the  Puritans  in  advance  of  their  times,  251  ; 
seventeenth  century  laws,  251 ;  more  merciful  than  those  of  Vir- 
ginia, 253  ;  or  New  York,  or  England,  252  ;  capital  crimes,  252  ; 
English  laws  against  Quakers,  witchcraft,  253  ;  blasphemy,  pen- 
alty for,  in  Maryland,  253;  Puritan  laws  against  Quakers,  254; 
against  witchcraft,  255. 

Letters  from  England  in  regard  to  Pynchon's  book,  213;  reply 
from  the  Elders,  213. 

Letters  of  Governor  Winthrop  to  his  Wife,  and  of  Mar- 
garet Winthrop  to  her  husband,  227-232. 

Letters  of  Governor  Winthrop  to  his  son,  231. 

Leyden,  the  refuge  of  the  Pilgrims,  ^d. 

Libraries  of  the  Puritans,  124. 

Lighting  and  warming  the  meeting-houses,  146. 

Longfellow,  H.  W.,  a  student  of  New  England  history,  243; 
descendant  from  John  Alden,  273. 

Long  Parliament,  71,  74,  IS- 

Lord's-Day  began  Saturday  evening,  148 ;  religious  services, 
149. 

Lord's  Supper,  mode  of  admmistermg,  154. 

LoTHROP,  Parson,  129. 

Luther,  9. 

Lycidas  of  Milton,  d']. 

Magna  Charta,  a  Puritan  watchword,  61. 

Manners  of  the  Early  Ministers,  125-129,  130. 

Marriage  by  the  Magistrate,  165. 

Martin  Mar-Prelate  Tracts,  28 ;  replies,  30. 

Martyrs  of  the  Separatists,  25 ;  Copping,  Dennis,  Thacker, 

25  ;  Henry  Barrowe,  26;  John  Greenwood,  John  Penry,  27. 
Mary,  restores  the  Mass,  11  ;  martyrs  during  her  reign,  12. 
Massachusetts,  Government  of,  100  ;  order  of  nobility  proposed, 

100. 
Mather,  Cotton,  121,  140,  189. 
Mather,  Increase,  127. 
Mather,  Richard,  108,  123;   salary,  132;    letters  to  England, 

213. 
Mayflower,  The,  86,  136;  departure  of,  244. 
McKeen,  President  Joseph,  382;  preaching,  388. 


INDEX.  399 


Meeting-Houses,  139;  meaning  of,  139;  central  building  of  the 
town,  140;  built  of  logs  at  first,  square  with  pointed  roof,  140; 
examples  of  that  style,  141  ;  barn  meeting-house,  142  ;  sound- 
ing-board, 142;  benches,  square  pews,  143;  third  period,  144  ; 
Christ  Church,  144 ;  Old  South  Meeting-house,  145. 

Meeting-House,  in  Brunswick,  373  ;  its  environment,  374 ;  the 
East  Meeting-house,  373,  379  ;  no  means  of  heating  or  lighting, 
380. 

Meritorious  Price  of  our  Redemption,  200;  published  1650, 
copies  now  extant,  201 ;  excitement  kindled  by  the  book,  con- 
demned to  be  burned,  201 ;  answered  by  John  Norton,  202  ; 
letters  from  England  concerning,  203  ;  John  Cotton  explains  the 
action,  204;  analysis  of  the  book,  206;  discussion  of  Scripture 
texts,  versions  quoted,  theologians  quoted,  206  ;  constructive 
part  of  the  book,  207;  death  of  Christ  a  part  of  His  obedience, 
208. 

Mid-week  Lectures,  156. 

Milk  for  Babes,  by  John  Cotton,  157,  286. 

Millenary  Petition,  36,  70;  Hampton  Court  Conference,  37; 
an  opportunity  lost  for  the  union  of  English  Christians,  39;  the 
points  of  agreement  proposed  by  the  Puritans,  36  ;  King  James 
determines  to  root  out  Puritanism,  38,  d^.,  95. 

Miller,  Rev.  John,  of  Brunswick,  notices  of,  375,  note  ;  length 
of  his  ministry,  374  ;  a  decided  Congregationalist,  384. 

Milton,  John,  culture,  love  of  liberty,  68 ;  Lycidas,  67 ;  love  of 
art,  78,  225. 

Ministers,  The  Early  in  New  England,  117;  representatives 
of  Puritans,  117;  intense  Protestants,  118;  men  of  one  book, 
118;  of  education  and  culture,  120;  original  languages  of  the 
Bible,  123;  libraries,  124;  dignity  and  courtliness,  125;  gown 
and  bands,  126;  dress  of,  129;  salaries,  132;  dwellings,  135  ; 
food,  137;  preaching,  152;  mid-week  lectures,  156;  parochial 
work,  157;  ordination  of,  161. 

Ministers  in  Maine,  381  ;  description  of  Rev.  Samuel  Eaton, 
382;    President   McKeen,  382;    use  of   intoxicating  hquors, 

383. 
Ministers  limited  to  the  Parish,  161. 
Ministry  of  the  Church  at  Plymouth,  Lyford,  104;  Rogers, 

Smith,  Raynor,  Charles  Chauncy,  104,  T06  ;  John  Cotton,  Jr., 

105. 
Mistakes  of  the  Puritans,  162;  limited  by  their  environment, 

163;  no  public  reading  of  the  Bible  without  exposition,  163; 


400  INDEX. 


services  at  funerals,  164  ;  marriage  by  the  magistrate,  165  ; 

days  of  the  week  by  numerals,  166 ;  festivals  of  the  Christian 

year,  167. 
Moody,  Joshua,  119. 
MoxoN,  George,  193 ;  salary  of,  193. 

New  England  Theology,  330,  383. 

New  England  type  of  mind,  271 ;  seventh  generation  from  the 
founders,  272 ;  modified  by  other  types,  273 ;  examples  of,  in 
our  time,  273. 

New  Hampshire,  240. 

New  Haven,  108. 

Non-Conformists  prosecuted,  17;  Dean  of  Christ  Church  in 
prison,  17;  ministers  in  London  suspended,  17;  John  Foxe; 
preaching  in  private  houses  forbidden,  19 ;  Non-Conformists  in 
prison,  17,  19,  25-26. 

Norton,  John,  graduates  at  Cambridge,  106,  123  ;  minister  of  Ips- 
wich, 123;  salary  of,  132;  mid-week  lectures,  156;  answers  the 
book  of  Mr.  Pynchon,  202,  290 ;  minister  of  Boston,  209 ;  pub- 
lishes The  Orthodox  Evangelist,  295  ;  Decrees  of  God,  295  ; 
liberty  of  man,  296;  the  fall  of  man,  297;  saving  faith,  298; 
justification,  298. 

Officers  of  a  Puritan  Church,  160. 

Old  Colony  Legislation,  democratic,  98;  no  religious  test,  99; 
severity  of  it,  109;  Quakers  at  Plymouth,  109-110;  witch- 
craft, no. 

Old  Colony  Ministers  :  Ralph  Partridge,  John  Lothrop,  Henry 
Dunster,  Samuel  Newman,  Charles  Chauncy,  106. 

Order  of  Services  on  Sunday,  149. 

Ordination  of  Ministers,  158,  160. 

Packard,  Prof.  Alpheus  S.,  381. 

Palfrey,  Dr.  J.  G.,  60,  78,  85,  89,  121,  138,  325. 

Park,  Prof.  Edwards  A.,  128. 

Parliamentary  Leaders  :  Pym,  47,  48,  73,  75  ;  Eliot,  47,  48, 60, 
63,  66,  71,  84;  Coke,  47,  48,  75;  John  Hampden,  61,  70,  72, 
75  ;  trial  of  Hampden's  cause,  72  ;  Rex  is  lex,  y;^. 

Parochial  Work  of  the  Early  Ministers,  157;  pastoral  vis- 
iting, in  the  eighteenth  century,  384;  methodical  and  faith- 
ful, 385. 

Parsons,  Hugh,  tried  for  witchcraft,  196. 


INDEX,  401 


Petition  of  Right,  61. 
Phillips,  Samuel,  128. 
Pilgrim  Church  in  Plymouth,  94,  98. 

Pilgrim  Fathers,  49;  Gainsborough-upon-Trent,  51;  Scrooby, 
51  ;  spirit  of  the  Pilgrims,  53-57  ;  their  sufferings,  52,  54,  55  ; 
their  departure  for  Holland,  54-55  ;  in  Amsterdam,  56;  remove 
to  Leyden,  56;  reasons  for  their  going  to  America,  57;  their 
departure,  57,  84;  poetic  quality  in  Pilgrim  history,  loi  j  their 
legislation,  109;  Quakers  at  Plymouth,  109-110. 

Pilgrim  Model  of  a  Church  adopted,  94,  96. 

Pilgrims,  The,  pioneers,  236 ;  without  domestic  animals,  236 ; 
or  ploughs,  without  milk  or  butter,  236 ;  without  nourishing 
food,  237;  or  suitable  clothing,  237;  compared  with  Jacob  and 
his  sons,  238;  in  debt  to  the  Company  in  England,  238;  ex- 
posed to  savages,  239. 

Plymouth  Colony,  84;  government  of,  98  ;  no  religious  tests,  99, 
loi,  102,  170. 

Polity  of  the  Early  Churches,  177;  the  Cambridge  Platform, 
179;  fellowship  of  the  Churches,  180,  285. 

Political  Elements  in  the  Puritan  cause,  39. 

Poverty  of  the  pioneer  settlers  in  Maine,  380  ;  the  pillion, 
number  of  wheeled  carriages,  380. 

Preaching  in  Brunswick  in  the  last  century,  383  ;  doctrines 
preached,  catechising,  383. 

Presbyterians  in  Maine,  372;  first  church  in  Brunswick  Presby- 
terian, 378  ;  became  Congregational,  379. 

Presbyterian  Ordination  recognized  by  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, 42. 

Prince,  Thomas,  327. 

Printing-presses,  not  allowed,  20,  28,  31. 

Priscilla  Mullins,  243  ;  reply  to  Standish,  244. 

Protestant  Exiles  return  to  England,  16. 

Protestant  Reformation  in  England,  9;  the  Puritan  protest 
against  error,  282 ;  love  of  the  Bible,  282 ;  the  Lord's-day,  283. 

Protestant  refugees  in  England,  16,  33. 

Province  of  Massachusetts,  170, 338 ;  provisions  of  its  charter, 
union  of  Church  and  State,  339;  no  religious  (est  for  the  Suf- 
frage, 340. 

Public  Worship,  147;  attendance  required  by  law,  148;  began  at 
9  o'clock,  148;  called  at  beat  of  the  drum,  149;  order  of  ser- 
vices, 149;  prayers,  149;  exposition,  singing,  150;   sermons, 
152;  afternoon  services,  154;  contributions,  155. 
26 


402 


INDEX. 


Public  Worship,  and  the  Sacraments,  in  Maine,  374;  how  the 
Lord's  Supper  was  administered,  379 ;  baptism,  379;  regular 
services  on  the  Lord's-day,  380. 

Puritans  in  England,  5,  14,  16;  origin  of  the  word,  16;  Religio 
purissima,  16;  division  of  the  Puritans,  21;  rapid  growth  of 
Puritanism,  30  ;  pohtical  elements  in  the  Puritan  cause,  39;  the 
defenders  of  hberty,  39,  45,  ^(d,  92;  requests  from  the  Church 
of  England,  36  ;  their  so-called  bigotry,  causes,  68  ;  migration 
to  New  England,  69,  79;  limitations  of  the  Puritans,  76  ;  their 
culture,  "]%,  79;  John  Owen,  78  ;  Colonel  John  Hutchinson,  'jZ^ 
222-225  ;  their  colleges,  79;  their  influence,  80;  causes  of  the 
fall  of  the  Commonwealth,  75-76. 

Puritans  in  New  England,  Non-Conformists,  84 ;  from  the 
upper  middle  classes,  90 ;  pohtical  plans,  92  ;  suffrage  restricted 
by  a  religious  test,  100;  thrifty  and  prosperous  people,  102; 
their  intellectual  spirit,  106;  Harvard  College,  Cambridge 
Platform,  107;  their  legislation,  111,251. 

Puritans  in  Massachusetts,  provided  with  cattle  and  other 
domestic  animals,  239  ;  often  destitute  of  nourishing  food,  240  ; 
visited  by  sickness,  240;  dependent  on  a  wind-mill,  240;  in- 
fluence of,  273-276,  306. 

Puritan  Influence  in  New  England,  4;  numbers  who  came 
from  England,  4 ;  proportion  of  Puritan  descent,  5. 

Puritan  Ministers  silenced,  20,  64,  67. 

Puritan  objections  to  Separatists,  94. 

Puritan  scruples  about  Conformity,  15. 

Puritan  Type,  The,  271 ;  compared  with  the  Greek  type,  271  ; 
Patricians  of  Rome,  272. 

Pynchon  Record  Book,  194. 

Pynchon,  William,  Gent.,  185;  ancestry,  186;  portrait,  187; 
education,  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Company,  Treasurer, 
188;  fur-trader,  188;  house  lot,  192;  magistrate,  192,  194; 
controls  trade  with  the  Indians,  199;  gains  a  large  fortune, 
200 ;  publishes  a  book  in  1650,  200  ;  the  Meritorious  Price  of 
our  Redemption,  200 ;  called  to  answer  before  the  General 
Court,  202  ;  required  to  retract ;  causes  of  the  excitement,  poli- 
tics in  the  case,  202;  his  scholarship,  206  ;  constructive  part  of 
his  book,  207  ;  confers  with  the  Elders,  209  ;  explains  his  opin- 
ions before  the  General  Court,  210  ;  meaning  of  his  letter  to  the 
Court,  210;  left  out  of  the  magistracy,  211;  placed  under 
bonds,  212;  returns  to  England,  212;  Wraysbury,  literary  occu- 
pations, 215;  Works,  215-216;  family,  217;  portrait,  218; 
book,  290,  338. 


INDEX.  403 

Quakers,  their  treatment  in  England,  174  ;  reasons  why  they  were 
not  tolerated  in  New  England,  175  ;  four  of  them  put  to  death, 
175  ;  repeal  of  the  law,  I75)  254. 

Reactionary  party  in  the  Church,  43 ;  advocates  passive 
obedience,  45  ;  the  divine  right  of  kings,  41,  46,  59  ;  the  high 
prerogatives  of  the  king,  47;  Montague,  59;  Mainwaring,  59. 

Reasons  for  excluding  those  not  of  their  way  of  thinking,  93. 

Reformation  in  England,  9 ;  Luther,  9 ;  difference  between 
German  Reformation  and  the  English,  9. 

Reforming  Synod,  315. 

Religion  in  Puritan  Life,  262. 

Republics  of  Greece,  85. 

Revivals  of  Religion,  few,  313;  The  Great  Awakening,  314, 
338  ;  revivals  in  Maine,  385  ;  in  Harpswell,  386 ;  in  North 
Yarmouth,  386. 

Rhode  Island,  240. 

Ring  in  Marriage,  15. 

Robinson,  Rev.  John,  52,  94,  120. 

Romanism  in  the  Church  of  England,  59,  65,  66,  84,  95. 

Romanists,  numbers  of  in  England,  15. 

Royal  Commissioners,  105,  123. 

Rutherford,  Rev.  Robert,  374  and  note ;  length  of  pastorate, 

374. 

Sabbath,  the  Puritan  View  concerning,  65,  148,  268,  282-283; 
Book  of  Sports,  65,  283. 

Salem,  First  Church  formed,  97,  159. 

Savoy  Confession,  319;  an  improvement  on  the  Westminster 
Confession,  320;  adopted  in  Boston,  1680,  320;  reaffirmed 
1865,  321.  . 

Saybrook  Platform,  321 ;  influence  of,  32S;  m  the  second 
century,  336. 

Scottish  War  in  1640,  ']Z-  .  j    r 

Second  Century  in  New  England  History,  335  I  penod  of  trans- 
ition, improved  buildings,  and  ways  of  living  336 ;  Half-way 
Covenant,  336;  Yale  College,  33^;  Saybrook  platform,  330; 
Arminian  theology,  336. 

Separatists,  origin  of,  21;  Separatist  Church  in  Norwich,  22; 
Separatists  in  London,  24;  persecution  of,  25;  martyrs,  25-28. 

Sermons  of  the  Puritan  Ministers,  152  ;  not  written;  length, 
153- 


404 


INDEX. 


Service  of  Song  in  Massachusetts,  150;  in  Brunswick,  379; 
number  of  tunes,  381;  version  of  psalms,  381. 

Settlement  for  the  Minister,  132,  340. 

Seventeenth  Century,  233 ;  belief  in  witchcraft,  234 ;  cruel  pun- 
ishments, 234;  slavery,  234;  simple  life,  reverence,  dignity,  235; 
respect  for  philosophy  and  religion,  235  ;  its  great  poets  and 
statesmen,  236. 

Shepard,  Thomas,  personal  history,  106, 292;  pastor  of  the  Church 
in  Cambridge,  293  ;  his  views  in  theology,  293 ;  his  works,  292 
note. 

Ship-Money,  72,  74. 

Simple  Cobbler  of  Agawam,  258. 

Singing,  150;  no  instruments  of  music,  150;  psalter  of  Ainsworth, 
Bay  Psalm  Book,  tunes  used,  150;  no  choirs,  152;  singing  by 
note,  or  by  rote,  151  ;  decline  of  church  music  (note),  reform 
in  methods  of  singing,  151;   church  choirs,  152;    in  Maine, 

379- 

Skelton,  Samuel,  122,  158. 

Social  Distinctions,  143  ;  the  titles  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  256  ;  Good- 
man and  Goodwife,  257 ;  loss  of  the  title  by  a  misdemeanor, 
257  ;  catalogues  of  Harvard,  257;  the  title  Sir,  257. 

Sounding  Board,  141  ;  in  English  churches  (note),  142. 

Springfield,  Settlement  of,  191  ;  mutual  agreement,  191,  195  ; 
number  of  families,  allotment  of  land,  191 ;  Agawam,  191 ;  agree- 
ment with  the  Indians,  192;  jury,  194;  sets  up  a  government, 
195  ;  town-meeting,  197;  penalty  for  carrying  fire  ;  standard  of 
measure;  monthly  training,  powder  not  to  be  sold  to  Indians, 
197;  wages  of  carpenters,  198  ;  other  laborers;  penalty  for  re- 
fusing to  serve  as  an  officer  of  the  town;  stipend  paid  for  beat- 
ing the  drum  for  the  meetings,  198. 

Springfield  in  its  Second  Century,  337 ;  towns  in  the  Con- 
necticut Valley,  Association  of  Ministers,  337. 

Stafford  impeached,  74. 

Standish,  Miles,  243. 

Star  Chamber,  20. 

Suffrage  limited  by  a  religious  test,  99,  168,  169. 

Support  of  Ministers,  130;  voluntary  contributions,  131;  tax 
by  authority  of  the  Colony,  131  ;  salaries  of,  132;  "  settlement," 
132-,  not  poor  men,  134;  qualifications,  339;  method  of  select- 
ing a  minister,  340 ;  support  of,  340. 

Synod  of  1637,  289;   condemns  eighty-two  erroneous  views,  290. 

Synod  of  Cambridge,  1646,  107,  178,  291. 


INDEX. 


405 


Synod  of  1679,  315;  time  and  place  of  meeting,  315;  questions 
before  it,  315  ;  statement  of  the  sins  of  New  England,  316- 
318;  recommendations,  318;  seconded  by  the  General  Court, 
318  ;  and  by  the  Churches,  results,  319 ;  adjourned  meeting  of 
the  Synod,  319;  Savoy  Synod,  and  its  confession,  319-320; 
The  Boston  Synod  adopts  its  confession,  320  ;  amendments, 
320;  Congregational  Council  of  1865,321;  influence  of  this 
Confession,  321,  327. 

Table  Furniture,  137. 
Tax  for  Support  of  Churches,  100. 
Tea,  not  in  use,  138. 
Tennyson,  quoted,  112. 

Thanksgiving  Days,  167;  days  of  fasting,  167. 
Thirty  Years  War,  34,  50. 

Translations  of  the  Bible,  Wyclifs,  6;  Tyndale's,  11  ;  Cover- 
dale's,  II ;  King  James',  37. 

Unitarianism  in  New  England,  origin  of,  3  [3. 

Vane,  Sir  Henry,  185,  213. 

Versions  quoted  in  Mr.  Pynchon's  book,  206. 

Ward,  Nathaniel,  255  ;  author  of  Body  of  Liberties,  and  the 
Simple  Cobbler  of  Agawam,  258. 

Warehouse  Point,  199. 

Water  Mill,  the  first,  241. 

Westminster  Assembly,  date  of,  204;  statement  of  its  doctrines 
concerning  Atonement,  205. 

White,  Rev.  John,  of  Dorchester,  England,  89. 

Whitgift,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  18. 

Willard's,  Samuel,  Body  of  Divinity,  283  ;  earliest  folio  in  New 
England,  302;  evidence  for  the  Bible,  303;  inspiration;  elec- 
tion, 303;  Redemption,  304 ;  Person  of  Christ,  Inability,  304; 
difference  between  this  theology  and  that  of  Hooker,  305. 

Williams,  Roger,  122,  171,  173;  recalled,  174,  306. 

William  the  Silent,  76,  84. 

Wilson,  John,  121,  132. 

Windmill  set  up  in  Newtown,  240;  in  Boston,  241. 

Wine  and  Spirituous  Liquors,  139. 

WiNSLow,  Governor  Edward,  90,  96,  185. 

Winthrop,  Adam,  226. 


406  INDEX. 


WiNTHROP,  Governor  John,  address  on  leaving  England,  88; 
results  from  his  death,  203  ;  birth,  226 ;  commemorated  by- 
statues,  226;  marriage  to  Margaret  Tyndal,  226;  letters  to  his 
wife  from  Groton,  227  ;  from  London,  229;  Southampton,  230; 
from  the  Arabella,  230;  from  Massachusetts,  232;  writes  a 
history,  233. 

WiNTHROP,  Margaret,  226;  letters  to  her  husband,  228-230; 
sails  in  the  ship  Lyon ;  reception  by  the  people  in  Boston,  232. 

WiNTHROP,  Robert  C.,  276. 

Witchcraft,  Pilgrim  laws  against,  no;  common  belief  in,  176; 
numbers  put  to  death  in  Europe,  177  ;  trial  for  witchcraft  in 
Springfield,  196;  belief  in,  in  the  seventeenth  century,  234; 
English  laws  against,  253 ;  Puritan  laws,  255 ;  reasons  why 
the  prosecutions  ceased,  255. 

Wraysbury,  home  of  Mr.  Pynchon,  214,  215. 

Wyclif,  John,  date  of  his  birth,  6  ;  translation  of  the  Bible,  6; 
earliest  English  Reformer,  6;  the  Lollards,  7  ;  persecuted,  8. 

Yale  College,  336;  its  President  at  the  Council  in  Springfield, 
355- 

Zealous  Protestants,  282  ;  appealed  to  the  Bible,  justification 
by  faith,  sanctity  of  the  Lord's-day,  282. 


X 


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